Papovavirus and squamous cell carcinoma.

There is considerable interest in the role of the human wart virus in the pathogenesis of squamous cell carcinoma. Mucosal wart virus infections may produce considerable epithelial atypia and have eventuated in carcinoma in "normal" individuals in some instances. The verruciform lesions of patients with epidermodysplasia verruciformis frequently have this outcome. The finding of a virus of papova morphology in the noncondylomatous epithelium adjacent to a squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue in a young immunosuppressed patient is described. Such a finding adds credibility to the belief that a virus of the papova group may be integral to neoplastic evolution in at least some instances.