Human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer, is also associated with the development of anal cancer. Relatively little is known about the epidemiology of anal HPV infection among healthy females and its relationship to cervical infection. We sought to characterize anal HPV infection in a cohort of adult women in Hawaii. Overall, 27% (372 of 1,378) of women were positive for anal HPV DNA at baseline compared with 29% (692 of 2,372) with cervical HPV DNA. Among women with paired anal and cervical samples, anal infection without accompanying cervical infection was observed in 14% (190 of 1,363). Concurrent anal and cervical HPV infections were observed in 13% (178 of 1,363) of women. Women with cervical HPV infection had >3-fold increased risk of concurrent anal infection. Concurrent anal and cervical HPV infection was most prevalent among the youngest women and steadily decreased through age 50 years. By contrast, the prevalence of anal infection alone remained relatively steady in all age groups. Compared with cervical infections, the overall distribution of HPV genotypes in the anus was more heterogeneous and included a greater proportion of nononcogenic types. A high degree of genotype-specific concordance was observed among concurrent anal and cervical infections, indicating a common source of infection. Nevertheless, the association of anal intercourse with anal HPV infection was limited to those women without accompanying cervical infection. The relationship of anal to cervical infection as described in this study has implications for the development of anal malignancies in women. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005;14(11):2550 -6)

Few natural history studies of cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) incidence and duration have been conducted among older women, especially from multiethnic populations. Viral and nonviral determinants of HPV acquisition and clearance were examined among 972 sexually active women, ages 18 to 85 years, recruited from clinics on Oahu, Hawaii, and followed for a mean duration of 15 months (range, 2-56 months). Interviews and cervical cell specimens for cytology and HPV DNA detection by PCR, using the PGMY09/PGMY11 primer system, were obtained at baseline and at 4-month intervals. The prevalence of cervical HPV infection was 25.6% at study entry. A total of 476 incident genotype-specific infections were observed during the follow-up period. The incidence of highrisk (HR) HPV types (9.26 per 1,000 woman-months) was similar to low-risk (LR) HPV types (8.24 per 1,000 womanmonths). The most commonly acquired HR-HPV types were HPV-52, HPV-16, and HPV-31; and their incidence was increased significantly with a coexisting cervical HPV infection. Cervical HPV acquisition decreased with age, income, and long-term use of oral contraceptives and increased with number of sexual partners, use of hormonal creams, alcohol drinking, and condom use by a sexual partner. Cohort participants cleared 265 of the 476 incident infections during follow-up. LR-HPV infections cleared more rapidly than did HR-HPV infections (median, 180 days versus 224 days). Clearance times were enhanced among older women and women with multiple infections. Our data suggest several viral and nonviral determinants of cervical HPV acquisition and clearance that might be used in cervical cancer prevention programs. [Cancer Res 2008;68(21):8813-24]

Rate of transmission from penis to cervix was lower than that from cervix to penis; 13 different genotypes were sexually transmitted.

Near-infrared Raman spectroscopy is a powerful analytical tool for detecting critical differences in biological samples with minimum interference in the Raman spectra from the native fluorescence of the samples. The technique is often suggested as a potential screening tool for cancer. In this article we report in vitro Raman spectra of squamous cells in normal and cancerous cervical human tissue from seven patients, which have good signal-to-noise ratio and which were found to be reproducible. These preliminary results show that several Raman features in these spectra could be used to distinguish cancerous cervical squamous cells from normal cervical squamous cells. In general, the Raman spectra of cervical cancer cells show intensity differences compared to those of normal squamous cell spectra. For example, several well-defined Raman peaks of collagen in the 775 to 975 cm −1 region are observed in the case of normal squamous cells, but these are below the detection limit of normal Raman spectroscopy in the spectra of invasive cervical cancer cells. In the high frequency 2800 to 3100 cm −1 region, it is found that the peak area under the CH stretching band is lower by a factor of approximately six in the spectra of cervical cancer cells as compared with that of the normal cells. The Raman chemical maps of regions of cancer and normal cells in the cervical epithelium made from the spectral features in the 775 to 975 cm −1 and 2800 to 3100 cm −1 regions are also found to show good correlation with each other.