The DNA load of six high-risk human papillomavirus types and its association with cervical lesions

Abstract

BackgroundAnalysing human papillomavirus (HPV) viral load is important in determining the risk of developing cervical cancer (CC); most knowledge to date regarding HPV viral load and cervical lesions has been related to HPV-16. This study evaluated the association between the viral load of the six most prevalent high-risk viral types in Colombia and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) frequency.Methods114 women without CIN and 59 women having CIN confirmed by colposcopy, all of them positive by conventional PCR for HPV infection in the initial screening, were included in the study. Samples were tested for six high-risk HPV types to determine viral copy number by real-time PCR. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORa) were estimated for evaluating the association between each viral type’s DNA load and the risk of cervical lesions occurring.ResultsThe highest viral loads were identified for HPV-33 in CIN patients and for HPV-31 in patients without lesions (9.33 HPV copies, 2.95 interquartile range (IQR); 9.41 HPV copies, 2.58 IQR). Lesions were more frequent in HPV-16 patients having a low viral load (3.53 ORa, 1.16–10.74 95%CI) compared to those having high HPV-16 load (2.62 ORa, 1.08–6.35 95%CI). High viral load in HPV-31 patients was associated with lower CIN frequency (0.34 ORa, 0.15–0.78 95%CI).ConclusionsAn association between HPV DNA load and CIN frequency was seen to be type-specific and may have depended on the duration of infection. This analysis has provided information for understanding the effect of HPV DNA load on cervical lesion development.

Quantification of human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA using the Cobas 4800 system in women with and without pathological alterations attributable to the virus

“…A comparison of our results with those of other studies is presented in Table 8 (Moberg et al, 2005;Manawapat et al, 2012;Del Río-Ospina et al, 2015;Kang et al, 2014;Marongiu et al, 2014).…”

Type‐dependent association between risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and viral load of oncogenic human papillomavirus types other than types 16 and 18

“…HPV18 DNA load, however, appears less significant or even lower among women with, compared to without, a diagnosis of CIN2/3 . Currently, data on the clinical relevance of viral load of oncogenic types other than HPV16 and HPV18 (non‐HPV16/18 oncogenic types) are rare and inconsistent . It remains largely undetermined whether phylogenetically closely related oncogenic types behave similarly in the viral load‐associated risk of CIN2/3.…”

“…21 Currently, data on the clinical relevance of viral load of oncogenic types other than HPV16 and HPV18 (non-HPV16/18 oncogenic types) are rare and inconsistent. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] It remains largely undetermined whether phylogenetically closely related oncogenic types behave similarly in the viral load-associated risk of CIN2/3.…”

Association of Human Papillomavirus 31 DNA Load with Risk of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia Grades 2 and 3

“…Data on oncogenic types other than HPV16 are much less common. Some reports suggest that the viral-load-related risk of CIN2-3 may be HPV type specific (12,13); others show that differences in slopes (daily changes in viral loads) between transient infections and infections leading to CIN3 are constant across types (14,15). HPV31 is one of the oncogenic types and is phylogenetically closely related to HPV16 (16).…”