A sexually transmitted disease spread by kissing and oral sex has been linked to skin cancer for the first time.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the US, infecting around 42million Americans at any time and it is already known to cause cancers of the throat, anus and cervix.
But now, researchers at the National Institutes of Health say the virus could also cause squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common skin cancer in the US, with 1.8million cases diagnosed every year.
The team made the link after studying a 34-year-old woman who developed skin cancer on her forehead that kept returning尽管手术和免疫疗法。
医生最初怀疑这种复发性癌症是由于她称为Riddle综合征的罕见病，该疾病削弱了免疫系统，并使身体对辐射更敏感。 said had led them to become more aggressive.
Further tests showed that her skin cells could still repair sun damage, suggesting ultraviolet (UV) exposure was not the main driver of her skin cancer.
Dr Andrea Lisco, a virologist who led the study, said: 'This discovery could completely change how we think about the development, and因此，在具有损害免疫功能的健康状况的人中的[皮肤癌]的治疗。
''它表明，可能会有更多的人患有侵略性的[皮肤癌]具有潜在的免疫缺陷形式，他们可能会从中受益，并且可以从针对免疫系统中的治疗中受益。 preliminary and only suggest a potential link between HPV and skin cancer.
More research is needed to confirm the findings, and it is not clear at this time what proportion of skin cancer cases may be caused by the virus.
The patient was immunocompromised and unable to produce enough healthy T cells, a key part of the immune system, to抗击病毒。
医生用干细胞移植对她进行治疗以恢复她的免疫系统。
三年后，她的皮肤癌没有返回，其他与HPV相关的并发症，例如在她的替补和皮肤上，研究人员说，她感染了β-HPV，这是一种在皮肤上存在的HPV，可以通过性接触传播。
与alpha-hpv不同的变异与喉咙，肛门和子宫颈的癌症有关。
“ mol-para-with-font”>。增长。
Scientists linked the virus to skin cancer after studying a case of a 34-year-old woman with复发性皮肤癌的免疫系统（股票照片）
每年在美国有1300万个新的HPV病例，通常会攻击皮肤和粘膜，然后被免疫系统清除。
免疫系统通常会自身清除感染，许多患者U他们曾经有过HPV。感染。
在美国，每年也大约有7,854例肛门癌病例，其中91％与病毒有关。
和大约13,000例喉癌病例在美国被诊断出，其中只有大约2-3％的人估计是由HPV引起的。