HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS INFECTION IN BASAL CELL CARCINOMA OF THE SKIN: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS STUDY

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a large and ubiquitous group of viruses that some of them have been suggested as a co-factor in the development of non-melanoma skin cancers. The aim of this meta-analysis study was to evaluate HPVs' prevalence in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the skin and the risk of them in the BCC patients compared with the healthy controls. Five databases were searched from January 1980 to February 2017. A random-effects meta-analysis was done with the event rate (ER) for the prevalence of HPVs and odds ratio (OR) for estimation of the incidence of HPVs. Out of 1087 studies, 45 studies were included in the review. The pooled analysis demonstrated that the incidence of gamma-HPV was effective in the BCC patients compared with the healthy controls [ OR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.52-2.55; p < 0.00001], but not for alpha-HPV, beta-HPV and epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV)-HPV (p > 0.05). The pooled ER of incidence of beta 1-HPV in the BCC patients was 33.3% and for beta 2-HPV in BCC patients was 44.2%. In conclusion, this meta-analysis showed that probably the risk of gamma-HPV was more on BCC patients and also the rate of gamma-HPV was higher than alpha-, beta- and EV-HPVs in the BCC patients.