Clinical observations, virologic studies, and treatment trials in patients with epidermodysplasia verruciformis, a disease induced by specific human papillomaviruses.

We have studied 11 patients with the papillomavirus-induced disease epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV). Clinical diagnostic features are widespread, long-lasting, pityriasis versicolor-like macules and flat, wart-like papules, both usually occurring in early childhood, with the subsequent development in the third decade of multiple skin cancers of the Bowenoid in situ and squamous cell types, primarily in sun-exposed skin. Virologic studies using the methods of immunofluorescence microscopy, restriction endonuclease analysis, and DNA blot hybridization have shown benign lesions to be associated with one or several types of the human papillomaviruses (HPVs) specifically associated with EV (at least 15 types recognized on the basis of sequence homology studies of molecularly cloned genomes). Skin cancers in these patients were associated with the genomes of either HPV-5, HPV-8 or HPV-14, suggesting that these three viruses are potentially oncogenic. A genetic factor appears to play a role in the pathogenesis of EV, since 5 of our patients were children of consanguineous parents and 2 had siblings also suffering with EV, suggesting a recessive inheritance pattern. Treatment of 4 EV patients with an oral retinoid resulted in partial temporary improvement of benign lesions, and the treatment of 2 patients with intralesional interferon injections into multiple Bowenoid cancers in situ has resulted in the disappearance of these lesions. Finally, EV serves as a model for studying the interplay of oncogenic viruses, genetic and immunologic factors, and sunlight in the production of skin cancer in humans.