Certain HPV Strain Linked to Skin Cancer
Doctors at the NIH discovered that a type of human papillomavirus (HPV), specifically beta HPV, can directly cause skin cancer in immunocompromised individuals by integrating into skin cell DNA, a finding that challenges previous beliefs that HPV only contributed passively to skin cancer development. The case involved a woman with a weakened immune system, and her cancer was successfully treated after a stem cell transplant restored her immune function.