Human papillomavirus infection in the cervix of pregnant females in Hong Kong

Abstract

Routine cytological examination and HPV-DNA probing were performed on cervical cells obtained from 215 pregnant Chinese females. The procedure utilized the specific binding of a mixture of complementary [32P]-labelled RNA probes to membrane-bound target HPV DNA types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35. Positive results for HPV-DNA were obtained in 11/215 (5%) of the cases. The cervical smears were routinely processed and in 3/215 (1.5%) cases a cytological diagnosis of wart virus infection was made. All three were included in the 11 probe-positive cases. Using similar molecular biological techniques, pregnant Western females have an incidence of HPV infection of the cervix which is up to five times that of the present series. This is an unexpected finding in view of the fact that the incidence of cervical cancer is higher in Chinese women than American women.

Abnormal expression and mutation of p53 in cervical cancer--a study at protein, RNA and DNA levels.

“…'0 Briefly, DNA was extracted and subjected to three PCR assays using consensus primers for HPV Li and specific primers for HPV 16 and HPV 18 E6. PCR products were run on 4% agarose gels and blotted onto nylon membranes.…”

“…PCR products were run on 4% agarose gels and blotted onto nylon membranes. DNA from Caski and Hela was used as positive controls for HPV 16 and 18 respectively and DNA derived from the C33 cell line and water were negative controls.…”

“…The evidence supporting this association has been comprehensively reviewed recently2 and HPV types 16 and 18 are considered to be human carcinogens. In the majority of cervical carcinomas viral DNA sequences are integrated into the host genome3 resulting in deregulation of the viral oncogenes E6 and E7.…”