Molecular isolation of a human papilloma virus from blood serum in patients with leukemia in Kerman

Cancer is the second common cause of death in developed countries. Viruses are one of the most important environmental factors which increase the risk of developing cancer. The aim of this study was to identify the human papilloma virus (HPV) in patients with the blood cancer. In this case-control study, blood serum samples were collected from 35 patients with Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and 25 patients with Acute lymphoblastic leukemi (ALL) from Kerman medical centers. Thirty healthy individuals were considered as a control group. After DNA extraction from the serum samples, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to detect HPV. The specific sequence of HPV was observed in 15 samples (25%) of the patients’ serum. Out of this number, five samples (14.25%) of the 35 patients had CLL and 10 samples (40%) of 25 patients had ALL. Also, no positive sample was found in the serum of the patients of the control group. Out of the 15 patients suffering from HPV, seven (46.62%) and three (19.98%) had HPV16 and HPV18, respectively and five samples (33.4%) were of other types of HPV. This study showed that the PCR method with specific primers of Papilloma Virus 16 and 18 is a suitable and accurate method for detecting human papillomavirus.