Objective To study vaginal as opposed to cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) acquisition with regard to true prevalence, HPV types, and the role of co‐factors in virgins and after their sexual debut. Design Prospective epidemiological observational study. Setting University hospital specialised in genital malformations. Population Women diagnosed with Mayer–Rokitansky–Küster–Hauser syndrome (MRKHS) and undergoing neovaginoplasty between November 2011 and July 2017. Methods This is a prospective study including 186 women with MRKHS before and after sexual debut. Main outcome measures Conventional vaginal cytology and different HPV tests were performed at surgery and during routine gynaecological follow‐up 1, 3, 6 and ≥ 11 months after surgery and risk factors were documented. Results The mean age of all women at surgery was 20.1 years (SD 5.4), mean body mass index (BMI) was 22.1 kg/m 2 (SD 4.6). In 83 vaginal samples from 41 different women at least one of the HPV tests was positive. Thirty‐three different HPV types were detected. The prevalence of 41/186 = 22.0% as well as type distribution are comparable with those found in a young German female population. The overall rate of acquisition was clearly associated with sexual activity and smoking habits. Out of 367 Papanicolaou smears only six were abnormal with Pap IIID (MN II) and no obvious vaginal lesion was detected. Conclusions Vaginal HPV prevalence and HPV types in previously virgin women after creation of a neovagina are not different from the acquisition of cervical infections in the general population and is clearly associated with sexual activity and with smoking habits. However, abnormal Papanicolaou smears are rarely seen. Tweetable abstract Vaginal HPV prevalence after creation of a neovagina is similar to that on the cervix in the general population.

Objectives: In Germany data on the epidemiology of HPV infections and especially on the impact of HPV vaccination are rare. WOLVES (Wolfsburg HPV epidemiology study) is the first population based surveillance study in Germany to measure the impact of HPV vaccination and the burden of HPV related diseases in a two different birth cohorts.

Objectives: Long term persistency of HPV-HR infections is essential in the genesis of cervical cancer. Persistency seems to be rare in young women but the type specific clinical course of HR-infections in young women is still not fully understood.

The clinical impact of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) (E746-A750del) mutation and human papillomavirus (HPV) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is unclear. EGFR (E746-A750del) expression was analyzed in OSCC specimens (n=161) by immunohistochemistry. The expression results were correlated with clinical characteristics and impact on survival. Using INNO-LiPA Extra, high-risk HPV types were genotyped and analyzed in 211 OSCC specimens. Positive EGFR (E746-A750del) expression (n=40/161, 25%) was not associated with any clinicopathological characteristics, prognostic factors, social habits (smoking, alcohol consumption), or tumour-specific survival. HPV16 DNA was detected in three out of 211 samples (HPV16-positive: n=3/211, 1.4%). This study shows that mutation-specific EGFR (E746-A750del) expression and HPV do not appear to be relevant to the survival of patients with OSCC.

Fragestellung: Die Langzeit-Persistenz einer HPV-HR-Infektion ist essentiell in der Genese des Zervixkarzinoms. Die Persistenz scheint bei jungen Frauen selten zu sei, aber der HPV-typenspezifische Verlauf einer HR-Infektion bei jungen Frauen ist noch nicht ausreichend untersucht.

Nonmelanoma skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignant disease in Caucasians. Known risk factors include fair skin, sun exposure, male gender, advancing age, and the presence of solar keratosis. No viral risk factors have been established thus far. To examine the association between nonmelanoma skin cancer and infection with human papilloma virus (HPV) types, we performed a retrospective study in which skin biopsies were collected from 496 nonimmunosuppressed patients attending dermatologic clinics during a defined period and for whom a biopsy or resection of a tumor was indicated for medical reasons. A total of 390 patients with histologically confirmed diagnosis of warts (n = 209), solar keratosis or Bowen's disease (n = 91), squamous cell carcinoma (n = 72), or basal cell carcinoma (n = 18), as well as 106 control patients with normal skin was analyzed for infection with HPV and, if positive, HPV typed by sequencing. Logistic regression was performed to separately investigate association of certain HPV types with the occurrence of warts, precancerous lesions, and skin cancer compared with normal skin. For all three histological groups, both crude risk and risk adjusted for age, sex, and sun exposure were calculated. HPV DNA was detected in only 4.7% of controls, in 90.9% of benign warts, in 60.4% of precancerous lesions, in 59.7% of squamous cell carcinoma, and in 27.8% of basal cell carcinoma, which demonstrates that viral infection is specifically linked to skin disorders. The distribution of viral types found is distinctly different between warts and precancers or cancers, supporting an etiologic role of specific HPV types. This is supported by statistical analysis, where after adjusting for age, gender, and sun exposure, the odds ratio for nonmelanoma skin cancer in patients who were DNA positive for the high-risk mucosal HPV types, 16, 31, 35, and 51 was 59 (95% confidence interval, 5.4-645) with normal skin as controls. These findings suggest that persistent infections of the skin with high risk genital HPV types recently identified as significant risk factors for cervical cancer may also represent a risk factor for nonmelanoma skin cancer in a nonimmunosuppressed population.

We investigated human papillomavirus type 1 (HPV1)-specific transcription, viral DNA replication, and viral protein expression in naturally occurring benign tumors by in situ hybridization, 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation, and immunohistochemistry and obtained results different from other HPV-infected benign tumors characterized so far. Moderate amounts of transcripts with a putative coding potential for E6/E7, E1, and E2 were demonstrated from the first subrabasal cell layer throughout the stratum spinosum and granulosum. In addition very large amounts of E4 and L1 transcripts were present in the same epithelial layers. This finding was substantiated by the demonstration of L1 and E4 protein already in the bottom-most spinous cell layer. Furthermore massive amplification of the viral DNA as measured by BrdU incorporation and different methods of in situ hybridization took place in the lowest 5 to 10 suprabasal cell layers. These findings are in contrast to the assumption that late gene expression and viral DNA synthesis are restricted to the more differentiated cell layers of the epithelium and point to differences in the regulation of the vegetative life cycle between different papillomavirus types.