Background: To research the relationship between human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and the oncogenesis of primary squamous carcinoma of the lung.
Methods: 50 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung , 30 samples of areas of squamous epithelium metaplasia near tumors , and 30 samples of normal bronchial mucosa were detected for the presence of HPV DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) .
Results: In these samples , the positive detection rate of HPV DNA was 26%, 36.7% and 10% respectively. Of the detected HPV DNA , HPV16 was of the highest ratio. The positive rate of HPV6/11 and HPV16 in squamous cell carcinoma and squamous epithelium metaplasia had no significant difference by Chi-Square test ( P > 0. 05) .
Conclusions: These results suggest that HPV infection might play an important role in the oncogenesis of squamous cell carcinomas of the lung , and squamous epithelium metaplasia of the bronchus could be regarded as a precancer lesion. Compared with biotinylated DNA probes and hybridization technique , PCR has a higher sensitivity.