Biomarkers to Improve Precision Medicine for Skin Cancer

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers discovered a link between cutaneous human papillomavirus and squamous cell carcinomas that could contribute to the development of keratinocyte carcinomas, also known as nonmelanoma skin cancer. Identifying biomarkers for the disease is critical to improving precision medicine and disease management.

Keratinocyte carcinomas are the most common types of cancer in the United States, with around 5.4 million cases diagnosed each year. While the disease has a low mortality rate, keratinocyte carcinomas are linked to significant medical problems caused by treatment and healthcare costs.

With biomarkers, physicians can identify a patient at high risk of cancer and assist them with individualized prevention strategies or precision medicine, including more frequent or specialized skin cancer screenings.

According to previous studies, cutaneous HPV infections could be associated with keratinocyte carcinoma development. However, the studies have several limitations and were not conclusive.

“Unlike mucosal HPV types known to cause cervical, head and neck and anogenital cancers, the role of cutaneous HPV types in the development of cancer is less clear,” lead study investigator and associate center director of Data Science at Moffitt Dana Rollison, PhD said in a press release.

Moffitt researchers analyzed the potential connection of cutaneous HPV to keratinocyte carcinoma development. The team examined biomarkers of past and recent infection with cutaneous HPV beta and gamma types as well as recent ultraviolet light exposure.

For the study, researchers recruited 1,008 participants aged 60 or older. The team took swabs of the patient’s blood, eyebrow hair, and forearm skin to study the presence of cutaneous HPV. The participants also underwent a total body skin examination every six to 12 months.

The researchers monitored the participants for a median of 792 days for the development of new basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.

“The results showed that the presence of beta-HPV at baseline, particularly in the skin swabs, significantly predicted the development of squamous cell carcinomas; however, the presence of antibodies to beta-HPV, which indicates past HPV infections, was not associated with squamous cell carcinomas,” the press release stated.

Additionally, the researchers discovered that the beta-HPV types detected in the skin swabs were not located in the squamous cell carcinoma tumors that eventually developed.

The team also found that less than 5 percent of squamous cell carcinoma tumors contained beta-HPV types. However, squamous cell carcinoma tumors that contained beta-HPV happened more frequently in areas of UV skin damage than tumors without beta-HPV.

The finding suggests that UV exposure and HPV may work together to promote squamous cell carcinoma development. Researchers believe that beta-HPV could become a useful biomarker in identifying those at an increased risk of developing cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas, improving precision medicine and disease management.