Characterization of human papillomavirus genotypes and HPV-16 physical status in cervical neoplasias of women from northern Portugal

Abstract

Objective: To determine human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes and the physical status of HPV-16 DNA among women from northern Portugal with cervical lesions.

Methods: The present retrospective study included samples of cervical exfoliated cells from 88 women (median age 42.0±13.1 years) who attended the Gynecology Service at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Porto during 2010. After DNA extraction, HPV genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis using the MY09/MY11 primers. The physical status of HPV-16 was determined by real-time PCR.

Results: Overall, 69.3% of the samples tested positive. The prevalence of HPV infection was 38.5% in normal samples, 57.7% in cervicitis samples, and 87.2% in all cervical lesions including invasive cancers. Sixteen genotypes were detected, the most prevalent ones being HPV-16 (42.9%), HPV-31 (12.2%), and HPV-58 (10.2%); HPV-18 was rare. The overall prevalence of HPV-16 integration was 31.6%. The physical status of HPV-16 did not differ significantly by histology.

Conclusion: The most frequent genotypes were HPV-16, -31, and -58. Integration of HPV-16 DNA seemed to be an early event in cervical carcinogenesis. Further studies are required to clarify the value of viral integration as a prognostic marker.

Keywords: Cervical cancer; HPV-16; Human papillomavirus genotypes; Integration.