Correlation between multi-type human papillomavirus infections and viral loads and the cervical pathological grade

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relationship between single/multiple HPV infections and cervical lesions, and the correlation between viral load and the degree of cervical lesions.

Methods: A total of 27 284 patients who underwent testing for HPV were retrospectively screened and 3728 women were enrolled who tested positive for HPV when examined by liquid-based ThinPrep cervical smear cytology test and diagnosed by histopathology at the Shanxi Provincial People's Hospital between May 2017 and March 2019. The genotype and viral load of HPV were determined by fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Based on the pathological grade, the cervical lesions were stratified into three groups: chronic cervicitis/cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) I; CIN II/CIN III; and cervical cancer.

Results: There were significant intergroup differences in the distribution of single and multiple HPV infections. There was a positive correlation between the viral load and cervical pathological grade when the infections were caused by HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 51, 52, 53, and 58.

Conclusion: Multi-type HPV infections are more likely to aggravate the degree of cervical lesions than single-type infections. The HPV type-dependent viral load is associated with the cervical pathological grade.

Keywords: Cervical pathological grade; Human papillomavirus; Multiple infections; Single infection; Viral load.