Aim and Background. Endometriosis is a common gynecological disorder that is poorly understood. It is characterized by the presence of uterine endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity and is mainly associated with severe pelvic pain and/or infertility. We hypothesized that viral infection endometrium (especially HPV) may increase the capacity for the invasiveness of basal layer especially along with retrograde menstruation in the intra abdominal or the myometrial region.

Material and Methods. In this study, 46 paraffin blocks of endometriosis and 50 paraffin blocks of normal endometrium as a control were selected. After extracting DNA, all samples were examined for the presence of beta globin gene and suitable samples searched for the presence of L1 HPV-Common by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Results. HPV was detected by PCR in 11 of 43 (58/25%) cases of endometriosis tissue samples and 7 of 43 (27/16%), endometrial samples. A total of 18 out of 86 samples (93/20) were positive by using general primers of HPV.

Conclusion. HPV infection in endometriosis lesions as well as control tissues supports the spread of the virus or HPV-infected endometrial cells via retrograde menstruation. Due to an association of HPV in carcinomas, we propose that persistent HPV infection of endometriosis lesions could contribute to malignant progression.