Detection and quantitation of human papillomavirus DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from blood donors

Abstract

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the etiological agent of cervical cancer. Also, HPV has been associated with anogenital cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, genital warts, and other dermatological diseases. HPV infects epithelial cells and their replication is closely linked to epithelial differentiation. The presence of HPV DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) has been reported in some patients with head and neck cancer, cervical cancer, and other genital diseases. However, the presence of HPV DNA in blood in asymptomatic subjects is still unresolved. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of HPV DNA in PBMC from asymptomatic blood donors. Blood samples were collected from 207 healthy Chilean blood donors.Genomic DNA was extracted from PBMC and HPV DNA detection was performed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays with GP5+/6+ primers. HPV typing was carried out by genetic sequencing of a 140 to 150 bp fragment of the L1 gene. HPV DNA was detected in 6.8% (14/207) of blood donors. Single HPV infections were detected in seven blood donors. High-risk HPV was found in 6.3% (13/207) of cases: nine blood donors were infected with HPV-16, five with HPV-18, two with HPV-51, and one case was infected with either 32, 33, 45, 59, 66, 70, or 82. The median viral load value was 21.3 copies/mL blood or 13.4 HPV (+) cells per 10 4 PBMC. These results show that HPV DNA is present in PBMC from healthy blood donors and it suggests that blood could be a new route of HPV dissemination. K E Y W O R D S blood donors, HPV DNA detection, human papillomavirus, PBMC

Digital droplet PCR for the detection and quantification of circulating bovine Deltapapillomavirus

“…Although PVs are usually species‐specific, experimental data showing that these viruses can produce infection via the bloodstream in some animal models appear to strengthen our suggestions (Cladel et al., 2019). Furthermore, it is believed that blood could be an actual route of HPV dissemination as the virus has been found in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy blood donors (Vergara et al., 2019). A further biological feature characterizing BPV‐associated bladder carcinoma would seem to corroborate our suggestion.…”

A Current Update on Human Papillomavirus-Associated Head and Neck Cancers

“…In fact, a recent study has detected HPV (16, 18, 32, 33, 45, etc.) DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of ~ 6.5% asymptomatic blood donors [115]. Thus, studies are urgently needed to assess whether HPV has the potential to be transmitted parenterally or through blood transfusion given the fact that transfused blood is not screened for HPV infection unlike other infectious agents such as HIV, hepatitis B and C viruses, human T-cell lymphotropic virus, West Nile virus, Zika virus, Treponema pallidum , etc.…”

Detection of Human Papillomaviruses DNA in paired peripheral blood and cervix samples patients with cervical lesions and healthy individuals

“…However, we could not distinguish whether HPV DNA is from circulating free HPV DNA or immune cells carrying HPV DNA. Despite the importance, few studies discuss the role of the presence of HPV DNA in the blood of healthy subjects [22,24,32]. HPV DNA has also been detected in pediatric patients [22,37], healthy blood donors [22,23,32], and normal smears [25,30].…”

“…In this scenario, several studies have demonstrated the presence of HPV DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25], serum [26,27], and plasma [28][29][30] from cervical cancer and non-cervical cancer patients. However, despite its importance, few studies evaluate the HPV DNA in paired peripheral blood and HPV DNA in cervix samples from precancerous cervical patients and healthy individuals [21][22][23][24][30][31][32]. Thus, this study evaluated the prevalence of HPV DNA and viral load in paired peripheral blood and cervix samples in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN I, II, and III) patients and healthy individuals.…”