Association of high-risk human papillomavirus with ocular surface squamous neoplasia: a case-control study in Mexico

Objective. To investigate the association of high-risk human papilloma virus (HR-HPV) and other risk factors with ocular surface squamous cell neoplasia (OSSN). Materials and methods. We obtained DNA from 22 fresh frozen OSSN tissues and 22 pterygia as controls, we used a broad-spectrum HPV DNA amplification short PCR fragment to identify HPV infection in all specimens and then genotyped HPV by a reverse hybridization line probe assay. We also obtained demographic, sun exposure, and tobacco consumption information. Results. HR-HPV frequency was 40.9% in the OSSN group and 4.5% in the pterygia group (p=0.009). After covariate adjustment, OSSN was associated with HR-HPV (OR=16.3, 95%CI=1.2,218.1, p=0.03) and sunburn (OR=10.8, 95%CI=1.8,86.0, p=0.02). Conclusions. Ocular surface squamous cell neoplasia is a multifactorial disease.The strong association between HR-HPV and OSSN, suggests that HR-HPV could play an etiological role in OSSN development.