Dynamics of human papillomavirus serology in women followed up for 36 months after pregnancy

Abstract

We determined L1 antibodies for human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16, 18 and 45 by multiplex serology in our prospective HPV family study. We report seroprevalence, seroconversion and antibody decay in 290 women (mean age, 25.5 years) sampled before delivery and at 12, 24 and 36 months of follow-up. Multiplex HPV genotyping of the baseline oral and genital scrapings was performed. At baseline, seroprevalence of HPV 6, 11, 16, 18 and 45 was 53.3, 21.5, 34.9, 21.5 and 9.0 %, respectively. Seropositivity for low-risk HPV (LR-HPV) was associated significantly with age at onset of sexual activity (P50.001), number of sexual partners until age 20 (P50.018), lifetime number of sexual partners (P50.0001), history of genital warts (P50.0001) and being seropositive for high-risk (HR) HPV (P50.0001). The same covariates also predicted seropositivity for HR-HPV. During follow-up, 26.7, 13.9, 17.0, 16.8 and 6.6 % of the women seroconverted to L1 antigen of HPV 6, 11, 16, 18 and 45, respectively, between 18.2 and 23.8 months. Independent predictors of seroconversion to LR-HPV were unemployment (P50.019) and absence of anal sex practice (P50.031), and to HR-HPV, absence of smoking history and lifetime number of sexual partners. Decay of HPV 6, 11, 16, 18 and 45 antibodies was observed in 2.3, 4.0, 5.3, 4.5 and 1.5 % of the women, respectively, with decay time varying from 27.2 to 35.8 months. These data imply that (i) a substantial proportion of young women are seropositive for both LR-and HR-HPV types, (ii) they frequently undergo seroconversion within 18-24 months, predicted by common covariates, and (iii) antibody decay over 3 years is rare.

Genotype‐Specific Persistence of Genital Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infections in Women Followed for 6 Years in the Finnish Family HPV Study

“…This suggests that hormonal or immunological factors during the postpartum period may be protective against HPV infections. The observed increase in HPV prevalence at the 12-month follow-up visit might be explained by a new exposure during this interpregnancy period, which is also supported also by the serological data from these women, indicating a clear peak between the baseline and the 12-month visits [41].…”

National- and state-level impact and cost-effectiveness of nonavalent HPV vaccination in the United States

“…Equations and detailed parameter tables are provided (SI Appendix, Table S1). We parameterized the type-specific HPV clearance rate in women and the type-specific antibody protection against reinfection from the control arm of the PATRICIA clinical trial (26,39), the type-specific clearance rate in men from the HIM cohort study (40), the type-specific probability of developing antibodies from the Slovenian HPV prevalence survey (41), and the type-specific rate of antibody decay from the Finnish Family HPV study (42).…”

Human Papillomavirus Positivity in Women Undergoing Intrauterine Insemination Has a Negative Effect on Pregnancy Rates

“…Early abortion would imply that embryos divide over the two-cell stage, in order to be able to measure or assess the pregnancy in the first place. Another possibility is that women who already had a transient HPV infection can still have HPV L1 antibodies for up to 36 months [31], and these antibodies could bind virions attached on sperm heads. However, not all HPV DNA-positive women having transient infections do always elicit seroconversion, and some women with type-specific persistent HPV infection even fail to seroconvert [32,33].…”