Selenium Doesn't Reduce HPV-related Lesions

by Erika Camardella
04/25/2007

ATHENS, Greece—Selenium did not prevent the occurrence of skin lesions linked to human papillomavirus (HPV) in organ transplant recipients, according to a study published in the European Journal of Dermatology (17, 2: 140-5, 2007).
In the multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel group study, 184 recent organ transplant recipients were treated for three years with either 200 µg/d of selenium (n=91) or placebo (n=93) and monitored over two years. Primary criterion was the occurrence rates of warts and various keratoses (thickening of the skin), with skin cancer rates a secondary criterion; both endpoints were compared in the two groups, using Kaplan-Meyer analyses. There was no difference between the two groups for the main criterion (odds-ratio 1.09, p \= 0.72) or the secondary criterion (odds-ratio 3.08\; p \= 0.15), respectively. When both arms of the study were pooled, phenotype and age were not discriminatory factors, whereas a previous history of actinic keratosis (solar keratosis) significantly increased the risk of developing a skin cancer by 17.5 percent. Safety was good in both groups. Selenium did not prevent the occurrence of skin lesions linked to HPV, and researchers noted the occurrence of skin cancer was higher if there had been previous actinic keratosis—highlighting the importance of early dermatological follow-up of the transplanted population. In these particular cases, a high rate of epithelial lesions was detected, which was more than twice the rate usually reported in the literature.

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