Genital basal cell carcinoma in sun-protected sites: sex-stratified clinicopathologic features, p16/HPV status, and long-term outcomes in an Asian cohort.

Authors

Qiuyan Duan, Yangfeng Lou, Longfei Yang, Peng Zhou

Published in

Frontiers in medicine. Volume 13. Pages 1891922. Epub Aug 12, 2026.

Abstract

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) arising in sun-protected genital sites is uncommon and lies outside the typical ultraviolet-driven model of disease. We retrospectively reviewed 41 patients with primary genital BCC treated at a tertiary referral center in China between January 2010 and December 2025, assessing clinicopathologic features, sex-stratified outcomes, p16 expression, and high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA status. The cohort included 29 males and 12 females. Female patients were older at diagnosis than male patients (74.8 ± 10.8 vs. 65.4 ± 12.0 years; p = 0.019). Nodular BCC was the predominant histologic subtype (29/41, 70.7%), and aggressive histologic components were present in 7 cases (17.1%). p16 immunoreactivity was detected in 4 of 37 successfully tested cases (10.8%), and high-risk HPV DNA was detected in 2 of 27 successfully tested cases (7.4%). Clinical presentation descriptors were retrospectively extracted from routine medical records and were incompletely documented. During a median follow-up of 51 months, five patients developed local recurrence and one male patient developed inguinal lymph node metastasis. In this exploratory cohort, no statistically significant sex-associated difference in recurrence-free survival was detected (log-rank p = 0.65), but the small number of events precluded inference of equivalent outcomes or exclusion of clinically meaningful sex-related differences. In this Asian cohort, genital BCC was usually nodular, only infrequently associated with detectable high-risk HPV in available tested specimens, and generally favorable after surgery. Because genital lesions may be concealed and clinically non-specific, biopsy should be considered for persistent or suspicious genital lesions, with ongoing postoperative surveillance.

PMID:
42656207
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 27 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.