Clinical and pathological correlates of HPV type 16 DNA in anal cancer.

The aetiology of anal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has recently been associated with a sexually transmissible agent--human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16. In this study clinical and pathological data from a prospective series of 67 anal SCC collected over a three year period were compared with the HPV type 16 DNA content of these tumours to determine whether any of the clinical or histological parameters might predict HPV DNA content in a tumour specimen. Of twelve clinicopathological variables examined none was significantly correlated with HPV DNA content at the p = 0.01 level.