BACKGROUND - Viral DNA may act as an oncogene, especially in skin and lymphoid organs. This group includes some human herpes virus. OBJECTIVE - To identify human herpes virus type 1 DNA in pre-malignant and malignant skin samples of epithelial tumors comparing to normal skin to determine its role in carcinogenesis. METHODS - Forty-one patients with epithelial tumors were submitted to biopsies from tumor and normal skin. The control group comprised 41 biopsies from patients with other dermatoses than cancer. After DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction was performed to identify 199-bp band. The results were statistically evaluated by Fisher and McNemar tests. RESULTS - The virus was identified in 20 subjects without cancer and in 21 with skin cancer. From these, 11 expressed it only in tumor cells. This difference was not significant. CONCLUSION - There seem to be no direct relation between viral findings in normal skin and skin cancer cells. It may act as a promoter or just coexist at the same site where a neoplastic transformation has already occurred.
Herpesvirus 1, human; Oncogenic viruses; Polymerase chain reaction; Skin neoplasm
