Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing.
49 cases of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues of squamous cell carcinomas of the lung were searched for the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA by multiple polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Totally seven cases were positive for HPV DNA (14.2%), Among them four cases were positive for HPV6/11, one case was positive for HPV16 and two other cases were double positive for HPV6/11 and 16. These results suggest that HPV infection might play some role in development of squamous cell carcinomas of the lung.