Detection of human papillomavirus DNA in benign oral squamous epithelial lesions in Venezuela

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was applied to the detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in biopsies taken from clinically normal oral mucosa of 20 subjects and clinical lesions of 40 patients. PCR for HPV-DNA amplification was performed using consensus primers MYO9/MYO11 and subsequent typing for HPV of high and low oncogenic risk HPV types were identified by restriction enzyme analysis (restriction fragment length polymorphism, RFLP). The HPV viral genome was present in 55% (22/40) of the oral benign lesions (OBL) and in 10% (2/20) of the control samples. In the PCR+ OBL, we observed 90.9% of low oncogenic risk types (HPV-6 -13 and -32) and 9.1% of the samples had a mixed infection with low and high oncogenic types (HPV-6 and -16). In the control samples, we observed one patient with HPV-6 and another with HPV-6 and -16 in the same sample. All of the eight focal epithelial hyperplasia cases were positive for low risk HPV types (88% HPV-13 and 12.5% HPV-32). In conclusion, this study demonstrates a high incidence of HPV in oral benign lesions from Venezuelan patients.