Detection of human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid by filter in situ hybridization during pregnancy

Abstract

Samples taken from 101 healthy pregnant women (49 over and 52 under the 20-week gestational period) and 108 healthy nonpregnant women were tested for human papillomavirus (HPV) types. Using 6, 11, 16, and 18 HPV DNA probes, 3-5 x 10(5) exfoliated cells scraped from the cervix were tested by filter in situ hybridization (FISH). Thirty-five of the pregnant women (34.6%) had evidence of the presence of HPV DNA: with 11.8% (12/101) HPV 6; 7.9% (8/101) HPV 11; 8.9% (9/101) HPV 16; and 5.9% (6/101) HPV 18 positivity. HPV DNA was detected in 20.4% (22/108) of the non-pregnant women. Compared with the healthy, nonpregnant group, the higher level of asymptomatic cervical HPV infection was mainly due to the accumulation of HPV 16 and 18 nucleic acids during the gestational period: with detection of HPV 16 in 8/49 cases (16.3%) and of HPV 18 DNA sequences in 4/49 (7.6%) cases. Screening 6-8 weeks after delivery indicated a decline of HPV positivity. Of the 4/12 HPV type 16 positive mothers, only one retained the presence of HPV 16 DNA, whereas neither of the 2/12 type 18 positive women reacted after birth with the type 18 radioactive probe.

PCR-RFLP-Detected Human Papilloma Virus Infection in a Group of Senegalese Women Attending an STD Clinic and Identification of a New HPV-68 Subtype

“…The HPV detection rate in this study is lower in comparison with that reported (23%) by Chabaud et al [14] in the cytologically normal group. The high percentage observed, as the authors noted, could be due to an increase in the HPV detection rate in pregnant women with respect to the general population [32], possibly because of viral reactivation during pregnancy.…”

Effect of Second Pregnancy on Maternal Carriage and Outcome of High-Risk Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

“…It has been suggested that pregnancy could increase the risk of HPV infection due to pregnancy-related hormonal changes and/or immunosuppression [1] , but the majority of the reports do not substantiate this conclusion [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . Similarly, in some studies, cervical HPV carriage was shown to increase with increasing gestational age [1][2][3]12] , whereas other studies failed to demonstrate this trend [9,13] .…”

“…The effect of pregnancy on human papillomavirus (HPV) carriage has been a controversial issue [1][2][3][4] . It has been suggested that pregnancy could increase the risk of HPV infection due to pregnancy-related hormonal changes and/or immunosuppression [1] , but the majority of the reports do not substantiate this conclusion [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] .…”

Natural History of Genital Papillomavirus Infections

“…An increase of HPV infections during pregnancy followed by a decrease post partum is also the subject of controversy [148,149,153,154]. Early age at first delivery seems to be an indepen dent risk factor for the development of cervical cancer (OR: 5.0) when comparing women younger than 16 years with women older than 24 years in a consensus PCRbased case-control study [128].…”