Premium
A case‐control study of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma among Caucasian organ transplant recipients: The role of antibodies against human papillomavirus and other risk factors
Author(s) -
Casabonne Delphine,
Lally Aoife,
Mitchell Liza,
Michael Kristina M.,
Waterboer Tim,
Pawlita Michael,
ImkoWalczuk Beata,
Wojnarowska Fenella,
Proby Charlotte,
Harwood Catherine,
Newton Robert
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.24511
Subject(s) - medicine , seroprevalence , odds ratio , genital warts , confidence interval , antibody , hpv infection , sex organ , organ transplantation , immunology , cancer , cervical cancer , serology , transplantation , biology , genetics
Abstract A case‐control study was conducted in 140 people with histology proven cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and 454 controls, nested within 2 cohorts of organ transplant recipients (OTR) recruited in London and Oxford between 2002 and 2006. All participants had a skin examination, completed a questionnaire and had serum tested for antibodies against the L1 antigen of 34 HPV types using Luminex technology. SCC was more common in men than women (odds ratio [OR] = 1.7, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1–2.8, p = 0.02) and in people with susceptibility to burn easily (OR = 3.0, 95%CI: 1.9–4.8; p < 0.001). The risk increased with increasing age ( p ‐trend < 0.001), increasing time since transplant ( p ‐trend < 0.001), increasing self‐reported number of sunburns as a child ( p ‐trend < 0.001) and with the presence of viral warts ( p < 0.001). As expected, antibodies against HPV 16 were associated with a self‐reported history of an abnormal cervical smear among women (OR 5.1, 95%CI: 2.6–10.2) and antibodies against HPV 6 were associated with a self‐reported history of genital warts (OR 4.0, 95%CI: 2.2–7.2). However, no clear associations between any of the HPV types examined (including cutaneous betaHPVs) and SCC were identified. For example, the seroprevalence of HPV 5 was 15% among cases and 9% among controls ( p = 0.09) and the seroprevalence of HPV 8 was 23% among cases and 21% among controls ( p = 0.6). Nor was seropositivity to multiple types associated with SCC. These serological data do not provide evidence for a role for HPV in the aetiology of cutaneous SCC among OTR in two UK‐based populations. © 2009 UICC