Profiling of serum antibodies against human papillomavirus antigens in Korean women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer

Abstract

Sero‐epidemiological studies of human papillomavirus (HPV) have been undertaken over the last two decades. In this study, the prevalences of nine serum antibodies (anti‐E6, E7 and L1 antibodies of HPV types 16, 18, and 58) were evaluated in normal (control) Korean women and women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) I, CIN II, CIN III, and cervical cancer. The frequencies of all types of anti‐HPV antibodies were higher in the CIN stages and cervical cancer than in normal women, and those of anti‐HPV16 E6 and E7, anti‐HPV18 E6 and E7, and anti‐HPV58 E7 antibodies were higher in the cervical cancer group than in the CIN stages. The frequencies of antibodies against HPV16, 18, and 58 E7 tended to increase with increasing severity of cervical lesions. However, there were few differences in the frequencies of antibodies against the L1 antigens of HPV16, 18 and 58 in cervical cancer versus CIN stages. The anti‐HPV antibodies were detected in 26.5% of normal, 46.3% of CIN I, 62.5% of CIN II, 51.6% of CIN III, and 75% of cancers when any of the nine antigens was used as a criterion. Correlations between HPV DNA positivity and seropositivity for anti‐HPV E6, E7, or L1 antibodies were found only in HPV16 DNA‐positive cervical cancers for anti‐HPV16 E6 and L1 antibodies. In addition, strong positive correlations in seropositivity were found between anti‐HPV16 E7 and anti‐HPV58 E7 antibodies, and between anti‐HPV18 E6 and anti‐HPV58 E6 antibodies. These findings should advance global profiling of the seroprevalences of antibodies against HPV antigens.

Characterization of human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 E6 seropositive individuals without HPV-associated malignancies after 10 years of follow-up in the UK Biobank

“…cumulative exposure markers [ 58 , [62] , [63] , [64] ]. In contrast, antibodies against the HPV16 oncoproteins E6 and E7 are considered disease markers as they have been repeatedly shown to be strongly associated with HPV-driven cancer in (nested) case-control studies on oropharyngeal and anogenital cancer [ 15 , 24 , 40 , 60 , 65 , 66 ]. However, according to our estimations and those of Kreimer et al , approximately 90% of E6 seropositive individuals in the general population are not expected to develop an HPV16-driven cancer (see Supplementary Material 3 and [21] ).…”

Time to take HPV infection in colorectal cancer patients more seriously

“…In addition, few studies have focused on viral oncoproteins in plasma, either free or carried by exosomes ( 40 ). Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, the majority of studies on the relationship between exosomes and viruses have been conducted on cell cultures, anti-viral antibodies, or microRNAs ( 17 , 41 , 42 ).…”

Differential Antibody Response against Conformational and Linear Epitopes of the L1 Proteins from Human Papillomavirus Types 16/18 Is Observed in Vaccinated Women or with Uterine Cervical Lesions

“…Several research groups have identified a heterogeneous anti-VLPs and anti-L1 antibody prevalence in different female populations. For instance, by using and ELISA-VLPs for HPV16, the prevalence range was from 7% to 43% in healthy women, from 25% to 68% among women with CIN lesions, and from 28% to 100% among women with CC [ 14 , 15 , 21 , 23 , 40 ]. When the L1 protein from HPV16 was used in the ELISA (linear L1 or recombinant GST-L1), the prevalence varied from 3% to 52% in healthy women, from 10% to 95% in CIN lesions, and from 21% to 100% in CC [ 17 , 18 , 41 , 42 ].…”

“…This assay has recently been used to measure the efficacy of the vaccine [9][10][11][12]. Furthermore, the antibodies against the linear epitopes of the L1 protein during an HPV infection are also generated by and associated with previous HPV exposure, and they appear to be related to the evolution of the disease [13][14][15][16].…”