title: The nasal mucosa contains a large spectrum of human papillomavirus types from the Betapapillomavirus and Gammapapillomavirus genera.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Human papillomavirus (HPV) types from the Betapapillomavirus and Gammapapillomavirus genera are common at cutaneous sites. The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of these HPV types in oral and nasal samples.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nasal samples and oral samples were obtained from 312 volunteer Danish healthcare staff (240 women and 72 men), among whom the mean age was 42 years. A total of 311 oral samples and 304 nasal samples were eligible for HPV DNA analysis. HPV types were detected by use of polymerase chain reactions with modified general primers (MGP) and Forslund-Antonsson primers (FAP) and identified by Luminex (for types detected by MGP PCR) or direct sequencing or cloning before sequencing (for types detected by FAP PCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  HPV DNA was detected in 6% of the oral samples and 50% of the nasal samples. Seventy-five diverse HPV types or putative HPV types were identified. HPV types within the Alphapapillomavirus, Betapapillomavirus, and Gammapapillomavirus genera were detected in 3%, 31%, and 23% of the nasal samples, respectively. A putative subtype of HPV76, originally isolated from a feline oral squamous cell carcinoma, was detected in 7 nasal samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A large spectrum of HPV types from Betapapillomavirus and Gammapapillomavirus have tropism for the nasal mucosa. The implication of the relatively high prevalence of these viruses in the nasal mucosa is unknown.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Medical Microbiology, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Forslund
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Klaus Gregaard
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kofoed
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009055:Mouth / Q000821:virology; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000821:virology*; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
keywords: Betapapillomavirus; Gammapapillomavirus; human papillomavirus; nasal; oral