Human papillomavirus (HPV) detection in lip squamous cell carcinoma: correlation with clinical aspects and risk factors

human papillomavirus (hpv) is associated with a wide spectrum of lesions in humans, and it has been linked to oral carcinogenesis. the aim of this study was to investigate the presence of hpv dna in patients with lip squamous cell carcinoma and to correlate it with clinical characteristics and risk factors. we studied 33 patients with lip squamous cell carcinomas. of these, 30 were positive for human beta globin gene and tested for hpv dna, using polymerase chain reaction in two steps (pcr and npcr) with my11/my09 and gp5+/gp6+ primers. hpv dna was detected in 43.33% of patients analyzed. there was no association with the risk factors analyzed.