OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of microRNA-26a (miR-26a), Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression in patients with condyloma acuminatum and their clinical characteristics with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.

METHODS A total of 103 patients with condyloma acuminatum treated at Wuhan No. 1 Hospital from Jul. 2023 to Jun. 2024 were enrolled as the study group, and their wart tissues were collected. Additionally, skin tissues from 50 healthy individuals undergoing physical examinations during the same period were selected as the control group. The expression levels of miR-26a and TLR4 in both groups were measured and compared. HPV infection status in the study group was detected, clinicopathological characteristics of patients were collected and their relationship was analyzed. Based on high-risk HPV infection status, patients were divided into a high-risk group (n=51) and a low-risk group (n=52). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to evaluate the predictive value of miR-26a and TLR4 in wart tissues for high-risk HPV infection.

RESULTS The levels of miR-26a and TLR4 in wart tissues of the study group were (2.21±0.64) and (11.41±2.23), respectively, significantly higher than those in the control group (1.31±0.43 and 7.16±2.11, respectinely) (P < 0.05). No statistically significant differences in the expression level of miR-26a and TLR4 were observed in the wart tissues from patients with condyloma acuminatum, regardless of genders, ages, lesion locations or wart numbers; however, significant differences were found among those with different disease durations, wart sizes and high-risk HPV infection status (P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis revealed that the areas under the curve (AUC) for miR-26a, TLR4 and their combined detection were 0.762, 0.743 and 0.905, respectively, indicating good predictive value for high-risk HPV infection in patients with condyloma acuminatum (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS Both miR-26a and TLR4 protein are abnormally expressed in condyloma acuminatum tissues and demonstrate good predictive potential for high-risk HPV infection, suggesting their utility as biological markers and therapeutic targets for condyloma acuminatum.