Background: In the past decade, cervical cancer has gone from being the second to the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide, but remains the second most common in developing countries. This cancer is most commonly caused by high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV), mainly type 16 (HPV16), which are sexually transmitted. This study aimed to investigate the usefulness of a cyclic synthetic peptide designed from the major L1 capsid protein of HPV16 for detecting anti-HPV16 antibodies. Methods: We designed and synthetized a peptide that corresponds to the full sequence of the surface-exposed FG loop. We tested the antigenicity of the linear and the cyclic peptides against HPV16 L1 monoclonal antibodies. We used ELISA to detect anti-peptide antibodies in sera and cervical secretions of 179 Tunisian women, and we applied polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing methods to detect and genotype HPV DNA. Results: Both the linear and the cyclic peptides were recognized by the same neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, but the cyclic peptide was more reactive with human sera. The prevalence of the anti-peptide antibodies in sera was higher in women with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LGSIL) than in women with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HGSIL) (44% and 15%, respectively). This contrasts with HPV16 DNA prevalence. Compared to women from the general population, systemic IgG prevalence was significantly higher among sex workers (25%; P = 0.002) and women with LGSIL (44%; P = 0.001). In addition, systemic IgA and cervical IgG prevalence was higher among sex workers only (P = 0.002 and P = 0.001, respectively). We did not observe anti-peptide IgG antibodies in women with a current HPV16 infection. Conclusion: Anti-peptide IgG in sera or in cervical secretions could be markers of an effective natural immunization against HPV16. This may open novel perspectives for monitoring vaccinated women and for the design of synthetic peptide-based vaccines.
Background In the past decade, the cervical cancer rank went down from the second to the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide but remains ranked second in developing countries. High-risk types of human papillomavirus, mainly type 16, are the sexually transmitted agents etiologically linked to cervical cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the usefulness of a cyclic synthetic peptide designed from the major L1 capsid protein of the HPV16 for detecting anti-HPV16 antibodies. Methods We designed and synthetized a peptide that corresponds to the full sequence of the surface-exposed FG loop. We tested against HPV16 L1 monoclonal antibodies the antigenicity of the linear and the cyclic peptides. Detection of anti-peptide antibodies was assessed by ELISA in sera and cervical secretions of 179 Tunisian women. For HPV DNA detection and genotyping, polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing methods were applied. Results Both the linear and the cyclic peptides were recognized by the same neutralizing monoclonal antibodies but the cyclic peptide was more reactive with human sera. In contrast to HPV16 DNA prevalence, the prevalence of the anti-peptide antibodies in sera was higher in women with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LGSIL) than in women with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HGSIL) (44% and 15%, respectively). Compared to women from the general population, systemic IgG prevalence was significantly higher among sex workers (25%; P=0.002) and women with LGSIL (44%; P=0.001). In addition, systemic IgA and cervical IgG prevalence was higher, only among sex workers (p=0.002 and P=0.001 respectively). We did not observe anti-peptide IgG antibodies in women with a current HPV16 infection.Conclusion Anti-peptide IgG in sera or in cervical secretions could be markers of an effective natural immunization against the HPV16. This may open novel perspective for monitoring vaccinated women and for the design of synthetic peptide-based vaccine.
Background In the past decades, several studies have identified cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and leading causes of death in developing countries. High-risk types of human papillomavirus (HR-HPV), mainly type 16, are the sexually transmitted agents etiologically linked to cervical cancer. The present epidemiological study aimed to investigate the efficacy of enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and assessed host humoral immune response against the oncogenic HPV-16 infection using the cyclic synthetic peptide mimicking the FG loop of the major L1 capsid protein of the HPV-16 among Tunisian women. Methods The antibody responses against synthetic peptides mimicking the FG loop of the HPV l6 major capsid protein L1 in sera and cervical secretions among 179 Tunisian women were assessed by ELISA. HPV infection was examined by a polymerase chain reaction-based method. Results The frequency of systemic antibodies, in contrast to HPV-16 DNA prevalence, was higher in women with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LGSIL) than in women with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HGSIL) (43.7% versus 14.8%; P=0.04). Compared to women from the general population, systemic IgG response frequency was significantly higher among legal sex workers (25.5%; P=0.002) and women with LGSIL (43.7%; P=0.001). In addition, systemic IgA and local IgG responses were higher, only among legal sex workers (P=0.002 and P=0.001 respectively). Conclusions Overall, the frequency of HPV DNA detection was significantly higher among women with HGSIL. We did not observe a positive IgG response in women with a positive HPV-16 infection, suggesting that the anti-peptide antibodies are protective and confirm that the FG loop contains neutralizing epitopes. This could have implications for future monitoring of women to predict clinical outcome and for the design of synthetic peptide-based vaccine.
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