P53 codon 72 polymorphism as a risk factor in the development of HPV-associated non-melanoma skin cancers in immunocompetent hosts.

Human papilloma virus (HPV) has been implicated in skin cancer. Also, in human populations, the p53 gene is polymorphic at amino acid 72 of the protein that it encodes. The association between p53 polymorphisms and HPV-associated skin cancer risk has been examined, but the results were conflicting. It was revealed that the arginine form of p53 is more susceptible to degradation by the HPV E6 protein than the proline form and that patients with the arginine form have a higher risk of developing cancer than those with the proline form. The purpose of this study was to examine whether p53 Arg at the polymorphic position 72 could represent a risk factor for patients with high risk HPV-associated malignant skin lesions. The study was conducted on 29 high risk HPV-related skin lesions from Greece. Blood samples from 61 healthy individuals were used as controls. HPV-8 was the most frequent type. There was a difference in the distribution of p53 genotypes between high risk HPV-skin lesions and the controls, and the allele frequency of p53 Arg/Arg was much higher than the controls (65.5% versus 20%). Therefore, it is suggested that p53 Arg homozygosity could represent a potential risk factor for tumorigenesis of the skin.