title: Prevalence and associated factors of betapapillomavirus infections in individuals without cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: Betapapillomavirus (betaPV) infections are often associated with squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) and the prevalence of betaPV infections in (immunosuppressed) SCC patients is known to be high. The distribution and possible associated factors of betaPV infections in the general population, however, are largely unknown. To address this issue, betaPV infection was studied in 1405 SCC-free immunocompetent (n=845) and immunosuppressed (n=560) individuals from six countries of different latitudes. A standard study protocol was used to obtain information about age, sex, UV-irradiation and skin type, and from all participants eyebrow hairs were collected for detection and genotyping of 25 established betaPV types using the PM-PCR reverse hybridization assay (RHA) method. The frequency of betaPV-positive participants ranged from 84 to 91% in the immunocompetent population with HPV23 as the most prevalent type, and from 81 to 98% in the immunosuppressed population with HPV23 as the most or the second most prevalent type. The median number of infecting betaPV types ranged from four to six in the immunocompetent and from three to six in the immunosuppressed population. Increasing age in the immunocompetent participants and (duration of) immunosuppression in the immunosuppressed patients were associated with betaPV infection. In both groups, sex, skin phototype, sunburns and sun-exposure were not consistently associated with betaPV infection. This study demonstrates that betaPV infections are also highly prevalent in SCC-free individuals, with similar HPV types prevailing in both immunocompetent and immunosuppressed persons. Age and (duration of) immunosuppression were identified as betaPV infection-associated factors, whereas characteristics related to sun exposure and skin type were not.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Center of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.|DDL Diagnostic Laboratory, Voorburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maurits N C
authors.initials: MNC
authors.lastname: de Koning
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany.
authors.forename: Sönke Jan
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Weissenborn
authors.affiliation: Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata IDI-IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Damiano
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Abeni
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan Nico
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Bouwes Bavinck
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Hospital Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Euvrard
authors.affiliation: Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Adele C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cutaneous Research, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Harwood
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and GISED Study Center, Ospedali Riuniti, Bergamo, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Naldi
authors.affiliation: Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Neale
authors.affiliation: DKFZ - Charité, Viral Skin Carcinogenesis, Division Viral Transformation Mechanisms, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nindl
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cutaneous Research, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Charlotte M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Proby
authors.affiliation: DDL Diagnostic Laboratory, Voorburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wim G V
authors.initials: WGV
authors.lastname: Quint
authors.affiliation: Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata IDI-IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sampogna
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Center of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.|DDL Diagnostic Laboratory, Voorburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ter Schegget
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Center of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Struijk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Wieland
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany.
authors.forename: Herbert J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Pfister
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Center of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mariet C W
authors.initials: MCW
authors.lastname: Feltkamp
authors.affiliation: DDL Diagnostic Laboratory, Voorburg, The Netherlands.
authors.lastname: The Epi-Hpv-Uv-Ca Group