No Evidence of HPV Infection in Ocular Surface Neoplasia; A PCR-Based Study

To explore any association between human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and ocular surface squamous neoplasia. Forty pathological specimens including 20 cases of conjunctival intra-epithelial neoplasia grade I (CIN I) and 20 cases of CIN III and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) together with 20 pterygium samples (controls) were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to find any evidence of HPV infection. The examinations were performed on cut sections of paraffin embedded tissue blocks from our laboratory archive. Mean age of patients at the time of sampling was 568 (range, 30-86) years in the CIN I group; 61.79 (range, 43-82) years in the CIN III and SCC group and 41.510 (range, 24-67) years in the pterygium group. All specimens were negative for HPV. No association was found between HPV infection and ocular surface neoplasia in our series.