Presence and persistence of HPV infection and p53 mutation in cancer of the cervix uteri and the vulva

We studied 51 cervical carcinomas, among them 25 squamous‐cell carcinomas (SCC) and 26 cervical adenocarcinomas (AdCa), and 40 vulvar SCC for the presence of HPV and mutant p53 . HPV was detected by PCR, and p53 alterations by temperature‐gradient gel electrophoresis/direct sequencing and immunohistochemistry. HPV, mostly type 16/18, was found in 80.4% of the cervical tumors (92.0% of the SCC and 69.2% of the AdCa), but in only 27.5% of vulvar carcinomas. In contrast, p53 mutations were found in 7.8% and 52.5% of cervical and vulvar tumors respectively. Mutant p53 occurred in pre‐invasive vulvar lesions, indicating that this oncogenic factor is involved early in carcino‐genesis. Further analysis of recurrent/metastatic lesions of 9 cervical and 14 vulvar tumors also showed remarkable differences: in cervical cancer, HPV was persistent, and p53 mutations absent, whereas in vulvar tumors, HPV was mostly absent or not persistent, and the p53 mutation rate was very high (78.6%). These observations suggest that HPV persistence is an important event for the evolution and maintenance of cervical cancer, whereas for vulvar cancers p53 mutation and not HPV activity is a central oncogenic event. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc .