[Intraepithelial lesions and neoplasia associated with human papillomavirus infection]

Anogenital lesions induced by human papillomaviruses (HPV) are due to both high-risk HPV types involved in carcinogenesis of the cervix (and also, to a lesser extent, of the vulva, anus and vagina) and to low-risk HPV types that cause external genital warts in the perianal region, perineum, vulva and vagina (less often the cervix). Cervical cancer is thus virus-induced, and there is a continuum from intraepithelial lesions to invasive cancer. This offers the opportunity to screen cervical smears for cytological abnormalities or to detect high-risk HPV infection by molecular methods. Although the causal link between human genital papillomavirus infection and cervical neoplasia is well established, the role of beta-HPV in non melanoma skin cancers is unclear.