Cervical Cancers Manifest a High Rate of Infection by a High-Risk Human Papilloma Virus Subtype but a Very Low Rate of Infection by a Low-Risk Subtype in the Guiyang District of China

Abstract

The prevalence of infection by different genotypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) varies among different geographic areas. We studied the prevalence of infection by 21 HPV genotypes in cervical tissue specimens from 4213 women in the Guiyang district, that is located in the southwest of China and is dominated by minor ethnicities of Chinese, and 2074 cases in our cohort had pathological diagnosis available. The overall infection rate was 36.98%. Most (72.08%) infectors were positive for only one HPV subtype, with the remaining being cases infected by two or more subtypes. Infections by the HPV subtypes 16, 52 and 58 were the most prevalent, having rates of 34.66%, 16.03%% and 15.53%, respectively. The most common cervical lesions in HPV infections were genital warts, cervical cancer (CC) and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Age and age at first sexual activity were independent risk factors for HPV infections that in turn cause certain cervical lesions. Intriguingly, while 94.90% of the CC patients were infected by oncogenically high-risk (HR) HPV subtypes, only 2.75% and 2.29% of these patients were infected by oncogenically low-risk (LR) subtypes or other-subtypes with their oncogenicity unclear. The rates of infection by LR-HPVs and other-HPVs were also low, being 4.63% and 6.76%, respectively, in the patients with CIN that is a precursor lesion of CC, lower than the 8.54% and 18.20%, respectively, in the women without a cervical lesion. Our data provides an important foundation for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of HPV infection in Guiyang district and suggests that development of vaccines for prevention and treatment of CC in this area should first target the HPV subtypes 16, 52 and 58, but not subtype 18 as for many other places. It deserves study whether infections by certain LR-HPVs and other-HPVs may serve as attenuated live vaccines for prevention of CC.

Prevalence and distribution of HPV types in genital warts in Xi’an, China: a prospective study

“…Consistent with our study, Peng et al also observed the rate of HPV infections peaked at the age of ≤20 years (60%) and 55–59 years (50.70%). Most patients of the former age group had low-risk HPV types, whereas most patients of the latter age group had high-risk HPV types 27…”

Clinical significance of HPV-HC2 in diagnosis and prognosis of cervical lesions: a retrospective study

“…Generally, the human immune system has the ability to clear up to 90% of HPV infections within 2 years and only 5 to 10% may become persistent and lead to high grade CIN or worse. 1,2 Factors that lead to persistence and progression from infection to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and then to cervical cancer include the HPV type and HPV viral load. 3 Hybrid capture 2 (HC2) is one of the most commonly used testing methods for identifying the presence of HPV infection, and at the same time as semi-quantitative detection of HPV virus.…”