Failure to demonstrate human papillomavirus (HPV) involvement in Bowen's disease of the skin.

To assess the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the aetiology of extragenital Bowen's disease (EBD), a series of 91 cases were analysed using in situ hybridization (ISH) with whole genomic DNA probes of HPV types 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 18, 26, 36, 37, 39, 42, 55 and 59. No HPV DNA was found in any of the samples tested. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was also used to analyse 37 of the 91 samples, using both the consensus primers MY09/MY11 which amplify a large number of HPV types from the L1 region and the degenerate primers CP65/CP70, which amplify the complete set of epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV) HPV types. All the cases were also negative in the PCR. The results suggest that EBD is not HPV-related, at least in immunocompetent patients.