Background: The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a virus that only infects epithelial cells. Skin and mucosal lesions, as well as malignancies, are usually associated with it. In anogenital carcinogenesis, HPV is a key player. Persistent HPV infections have been linked to an increased risk of developing cervical cancer in several studies. The objective of the current study is thedetection of HPV-DNA in cutaneous and genital warts by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and to evaluate their possible association with malignant and non-malignant conditions. Patients and methods: This study comprised 24 patients. They are classified into 4 groups (common wart, planter wart, genital wart and cancer cervix groups) according to the clinical and pathological results. Biopsies from lesions were subjected to DNA extraction. Extracted DNA was amplified in the PCR reaction For the purpose of detecting low-risk HPV Samples found to be positive by PCR were then exposed to an additional amplification in order to find high-risk forms of HPV.
Results: revealed that low risk HPV-DNA was detected in 60% among common wart group, 26.6% among genital wart group and 13.3% among cancer cervix group. Meanwhile, it was not detected in planter wart group, with overall detection of HPV-DNA in 62.5 % of the study groups. About 46.7% of the positive cases had high-risk HPV-DNA. Conclusion: Common wart is the most benign lesions as it rarely converts to malignancy. Genital HPV infection was detected in both malignant and nonmalignant conditions. HPV is a potential risk for cervical neoplasia among Egyptian women.