Laryngeal papillomatosis, a disease in which malignant transformation takes place in 3-7% of patients,1 2 is caused by low risk human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6 and 11. The mechanism by which HPV affects TP53 involves the HPV E6 oncoprotein, which has been shown to bind TP53 protein and cause its degradation through the ubiquitin pathway.3 It has been proposed that subjects with homozygous arginine (Arg) at position 72 in the TP53 amino acid sequence are more susceptible to HPV associated uterine cervical and cutaneous tumorigenesis than are heterozygotes, and that the TP 53 Arg allele is susceptible to TP53 E6 mediated …