Association of human papillomavirus type 16 with malignant melanoma

We report a case of malignant melanoma associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) in a 37-year-old woman. The patient has had numerous brown papular and nodular tumors, 5 to 30 mm in diameter, on her left leg for > 15 years, some of them coalescing rapidly in the last 12 months to a multilobulated black nodule diagnosed as malignant melanoma by histology and immunohistochemistry. HPV type 16 DNA was detected in the melanoma specimen by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) and in situ hybridization (ISH) of the tumor tissues. This is the first report of melanoma associated with HPV 16.