Absence of human papillomavirus infection in cutaneous lichen planus

Abstract

Recently, several authors have reported the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in oral lichen planus with in situ hybridization 1 and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 2 We evaluated nine cutaneous biopsy specimens of lichen planus (LP) for HPV with the PCR. Nine cutaneous biopsy specimens were analyzed along with positive controls. Our results suggest that these viruses do not play a direct role in the pathogenesis of cutaneous LP. MATERIAL AND METHODS Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded skin biopsy specimens from nine cases of cutaneous lichen planus were selected from archival material. Positive controls included plasmids containing HPV DNA sequences, and DNA extracted from specimens known to contain HPV. DNA was extracted from paraffin sections as previously described) Briefly, six 10 prn sections were obtained from each block. Nucleic acids were extracted from the remaining tissue pellet by proteolytic digestion. 4 HPV DNA sequences were detected with the PCR. The primer-probe set that was used detects a highly conserved region of the HPV L1 open reading frame and produces a characteristic 450 bp amplicon in the presence of 41 different HPV genotypes. 3, 5 After amplification, each sample was analyzed on 2% agarose gels followed by dot-blot hybridization with both consensus and type-specific radiolabeled probes. 3-5 Under these conditions, the assay is capable of detecting five copies of target per reaction as determined by serial dilution of appropriate plasmid controls. To control for successful extraction of DNA from the specimens, a primer set specific for human betaglobin was included in each reaction. 4-6 RESULTS