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Epidemiologic data in the last years have confirmed Human papillomavirus (HPV) as an indispensable factor in cervical carcinogenesis. New diagnostic techniques have been developed since in the prevention of cervical cancer. The HPV group is dedicated to:

evaluation of new technologies for screening and diagnosis of HPV related cancers
introduction of HPV detection and typing in the management of patients with cytological abnormalities detected in screening settings
research projects in cervical cancer and skin carcinogenesis (see below)

Presently the project that involves more investigators is a retrospective international survey of HPV types in cervical cancer. The aim of this study is to collect data on the distribution of the different HPV types in a long period of time (from 1950 until now) and to enlarge geographic distribution knowledge of HPV type involvement in invasive cervical cancer. Histopathology is performed prior to molecular techniques. Amplification of a short fragment corresponding to the L1 gene of HPV, followed by reverse hybridization techniques for specific typing are used. Variant analyses of HPV 16 and 18 will be performed in a subset of cases. This project is done in collaboration with the Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Registry of the same institution. SOPs have been established in the performance of our HPV team. This project is partially funded by FIS.
The second research project focuses in the detection of HPV in skin lesions from renal transplant recipients. In collaboration with the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam a new assay has been developed to amplify and type HPV, genus beta and gamma (HPV skin types). Malignant, premalignant and benign lesions from patients are analyzed. Normal skin is collected by scraping different areas (sun exposed and non-exposed) to establish the role of HPV as a possible risk factor in skin carcinogenesis of immunosuppressed patients. The clinical part of this project is done in the Dermatology Department, Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol and is also funded by FIS.