Background: The authors examined 15 cases of in situ and early oral SCC to detect the presence of HPV genoma.
Methods: They proceeded to in situ hybridization on paraffined specimens utilizing DNA-biotinylated fragments in commercial kit (Vyra Type in situ, Life Technologies, Gaithersburg, MD, USA).
Results: HPV-DNA was detected in 9 cases: 6/11, 16/18, 31/33/35 serotypes were detected. The distribution of viral serotypes by sites showed a prevalence of 16/18 serotype in tongue and floor of the mouth carcinoma, a prevalence of 6/11 serotype in gingiva, hard palate and buccal mucosa carcinoma, and 31/33/35 in commissura.
Conclusions: The results suggest an important role of HPV in oral carcinogenesis, but further investigations are necessary to confirm these data on larger groups of patients to obtain a higher significance of the results.