Isolation of Human Papillomavirus with MY09/MY11 Primer in Seborrheic Keratoses

Park, Jin Woo; Shin, Dong Hoon; Choi, Jong Soo; Kim, Ki Hong; Bae, Young Kyung

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Seborrheic keratosis (SK) is a benign epidermal neoplasm of unknown etiology. Because of its wart-like morphology, human papillomavirus (HPV) has been suggested as a possible causative agent. Viral involvement has been identified by various reports. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of HPV in SK. METHODS: After reviewing routine histopathologic findings in 36 patients with SK, polymerase chain reactions with MY09/MY11 primer were performed using 14 cases of cutaneous warts as the positive controls, and 11 cases of epidermal cyst and 18 cases of psoriasis as the negative controls. RESULTS: Of the 36 cases of SK, 20 cases (66.7%) were positive for HPV. The durations of SK in HPV-PCR-positive group were longer than those of SK in HPV-PCR-negative group, but no significant correlations were found between other clinical findings and HPV-PCR positive reactivity. There were no different histopathologic findings between HPV-PCR-positive and -negative SK. Of the 14 cases of cutaneous warts, 4 cases (28.6%) were positive for HPV. Epidermal cysts (n=11) and psoriasis (n=18) samples were negative for HPV. CONCLUSION: All these findings suggest that HPV might be a cause of SK. HPV DNA sequencing will be neccessary to clarify causative HPV subtypes of SK.