Efficacy and Safety of Topical Methotrexate Gel 1% Coupled With Microneedling in Treatment of Warts : A Prospective Controlled Randomized Trial

Warts are benign proliferation of skin and mucosa caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). Currently, over 170 HPV types have been identified. Certain HPV types tend to infect skin at anatomical sites, for an example, palmoplantar warts are usually caused by Serotypes 1, 2, and 4; however, warts of any HPV type may occur at any site. Warts are transmitted by direct or indirect contact, and predisposing factors include disruption to the normal epithelial barrier.

There are several modalities for treatment of warts including cryotherapy, electrocoagulation, topical salicylic acid, topical 5-fluorouracil, and laser surgery. All these treatment options can be painful, time-consuming, and/or expensive, and none is considered the gold standard.

Treatments for warts have also included intralesional injections of tuberculin purified protein derivative (PPD), measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR), and Candida albicans antigen (candidin). This treatment approach is known as intralesional immunotherapy as it is thought that these modalities activate the immune system to recognize the virus, leading to wart clearance

. MTX as an antimetabolite and antifolate drug is a time-tested effective treatment extensively used orally or parenteral in various autoimmune disorders like psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, alopecia areata, lupus erythematosus, and rheumatoid arthritis in low to moderate doses with good efficacy, safety, and tolerability on a long-term basis

MTX is appropriate for rapidly growing tumors since it inhibits DNA synthesis in actively dividing cells. MTX is a folic acid analog that binds to the dihydrofolate reductase, blocking the formation of tetrahydrofolate and preventing the synthesis of the purine nucleotide thymidine .