Tracing human papillomavirus DNA in nasal polyps by polymerase chain reaction

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are related to the genesis of various benign and malignant human neoplasias. The HPV types 16 and 18 seem to be causally related to the development of most squamous cell carcinoma of the anogenital tract and a proportion of carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract. The near 100% positivity of the HPV types 6 and 11 in laryngeal papillomatosis is well established. We investigated whether HPV also plays a role in non-neoplastic mucosal entities such as sinunasal polyposis, the genesis of which has been discussed as being triggered by viral infections. On DNA from 39 sinunasal polyps (33 patients), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed using beta-globin primers for demonstration of amplifiable DNA in the tissue extracts. Consensus primers for the detection of several different HPV types were applied to the beta-globin-positive samples. The results were confirmed by Southern blot hybridization using consensus probes. Cycle sequencing was performed on the positive cases. All 39 samples showed positive signals for beta-globin. HPV-DNA investigations showed a slight positive signal in only 1 of the 39 investigated cases (2.6%). Further molecular investigations of this sample, including cycle sequencing, could not confirm this result. All the other tissue samples remained HPV-DNA-negative. Therefore, those HPV types readily detectable with the PCR primers and probes used are not frequently associated with sinunasal polyposis. The data confirm the hypothesis that HPV is correlated to a lesser extent to infectious mucosal lesions than to proliferative lesions. Furthermore, the results emphasize that the presence of HPV in specific lesions does not occur by chance, but represents a specific infection of the mucosa leading to proliferation and even to malignancy.