Prevalence and stability of antibodies to thirteen polyomaviruses and association with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: A population-based study

Background: Several new members of the human polyomavirus (HPyV) family that infect human skin and are potentially oncogenic have been identified in the last decade. Objectives: To investigate prospectively the seroprevalence and stability of 13 PyVs, and possible associations with different risk factors and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). Study design: In this Australian population-based longitudinal study sera were collected at baseline in 1992 or during the next 4 years from 688 people. Of the 688, 226 developed a new cSCC between blood collection and the final follow up in 2003. The remaining 462 served as controls. Among the 462 controls, 161 had a second serum sample from 2003 analysed. Seroprevalence of 10 human PyVs (BKV, JCV, KIV, WUV, MCV, TSV, HPyV6, HPyV7, HPyV9 and HPyV10) and three non-human PyVs (SV40, LPV and ChPyV) was assessed using multiplex serology. Results: There was no significant difference in PyV seroprevalence between people who developed cSCC during follow-up compared to those who did not. WUV and HPyV10 showed the highest serostability (93%) and JCV VP1 and SV40 VP1 the lowest (84%) over a 9-year time period (range 7-11 years). Conclusions: We found no evidence that HPyV seroprevalence is associated with subsequent development of cSCC and observed variable stability of antibodies to polyomaviruses.