Department of Medicine, Division of Dermatology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Exp Dermatol. 2021 Nov;30(11):1711-1716. doi: 10.1111/exd.14385. Epub 2021 May 25.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is known to promote the development of mucosal squamous cell carcinoma (mSCC), including pathologically high-grade lesions, but its role in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cuSCC) remains unclear, particularly in lesions that are considered high risk.
We aimed to determine whether enhanced HPV transcriptional activity can be detected in high-risk cuSCC samples compared with low-grade SCC samples or normal skin.
We performed RNA sequencing of cuSCC across 23 risk-stratified skin lesions. A subset of samples was tested for the presence of HPV DNA. High-quality, non-human reads from each sample group were used for viral analysis using Microbiome Coverage Profiler.
None of the samples analysed had detectable expression of HPV RNA, while 64% of samples tested positive for HPV DNA. All samples were found to have expression of human endogenous retrovirus, and multiple samples showed expression of other viruses.
Viral and prophage gene expression can be monitored in cuSCC or normal skin biopsies, yet no sample in our study showed evidence of active HPV gene expression despite evidence of HPV genome presence. This suggests HPV transcription does not play a role in differentiating high-risk cuSCCs from low-risk cuSCCs or normal skin.
人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）感染已知可促进黏膜鳞状细胞癌（mSCC）的发展，包括病理性高级别病变，但 HPV 在皮肤鳞状细胞癌（cuSCC）中的作用尚不清楚，尤其是在被认为是高危的病变中。
我们旨在确定与低级别 SCC 样本或正常皮肤相比，高危 cuSCC 样本中是否可以检测到增强的 HPV 转录活性。
我们对 23 个风险分层的皮肤病变进行了 cuSCC 的 RNA 测序。对一部分样本进行了 HPV DNA 存在的检测。使用 Microbiome Coverage Profiler 从每个样本组中提取高质量、非人类的读数进行病毒分析。
分析的样本均未检测到 HPV RNA 的表达，而 64%的样本检测到 HPV DNA 阳性。所有样本均检测到人类内源性逆转录病毒的表达，并且多个样本显示出其他病毒的表达。
尽管存在 HPV 基因组，但在我们的研究中，没有样本显示出活跃的 HPV 基因表达的证据，提示 HPV 转录在区分高危 cuSCC 与低危 cuSCC 或正常皮肤方面不起作用。
