Human papillomavirus in lesions of anogenital mammary-like glands

Long considered as ectopic breast tissue, anogenital mammary-like glands (MLGs) have recently been suggested to represent distinctive structures located in the anogenital area. We studied 16 neoplasms of anogenital MLG for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA using INNO-line probe assay (LiPA) HPV Genotyping kit, GP5+/6+, CP(SGB), and FAP 6085-6319 primer sets. The lesions included 3 fibroadenomas, 2 adenosis tumors, 1 invasive ductal carcinoma, 1 tubulolobular carcinoma, 2 hidradenoma papilliferum with prominent cystic change rendering a cystadenoma appearance and oxyphilic metaplasia, and 7 cases of extramammary Paget disease. All 3 fibroadenomas, both adenosis tumors, both hidradenoma papilliferum, and the tubulolobular carcinoma proved negative for HPV DNA. HPV-31 was detected by LiPA in the case of invasive ductal carcinoma. In 2 of the 7 patients with extramammary Paget disease, there was HPV DNA present in the lesional tissue, typed as HPV-6 (LiPA) and a type which was closely related to HPV-21 and HPV-24 (FAP 6085-6319), whereas the remaining 5 cases tested negative. These results coupled with those obtained from literature review suggest that HPV plays no causative role in lesions of anogenital MLG.