HPV-16, HPV-58, and HPV-33 are the most carcinogenic HPV genotypes in Southwestern China and their viral loads are associated with severity of premalignant lesions in the cervix

• Published in: Virology journal Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 94
• Main Authors: Long, Wenbo, Yang, Zixi, Li, Xiabin, Chen, Ming, Liu, Jie, Zhang, Yuanxue, Sun, Xingwang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 25.05.2018; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Analysis; Carcinogenesis; Care and treatment; Cellular biology; Cervical cancer; Correlation analysis; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Genetic aspects; Genotype & phenotype; Genotypes; Health aspects; High-risk HPV subtype; Human papillomavirus; Human Papillomavirus (HPV); Infections; Intraepithelial lesion; Invasiveness; Measurement; Papillomavirus infections; Polymerase chain reaction; Risk factors; Viral load; Viremia; China; High-risk HPV subtype; Correlation analysis; Viral load; Intraepithelial lesion; Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
• DOI: 10.1186/s12985-018-1003-x
• ISSN: 1743-422X

Currently, the role of human papillomavirus (HPV)-58 in southwestern China has been unexplored. Although there is some controversy, it is proposed that the viral load of HPV correlates with the severity of intraepithelial lesions. We identified 7747 patients from south Sichuan and adjacent regions who were diagnosed with HPV between 2013 and 2017. The HR-HPV subtype distribution was analyzed and the patient's viral loads were quantified using real-time RT-PCR. Among all 7747 patients screened for HPV genotypes, 1728 patients (22.31%) were identified as having HR-HPV subtypes. In patients without intraepithelial lesions (12.41%), HPV-52, HPV-16, and HPV-58 were the three most prevalent HR-HPV subtypes. Moreover, HPV-16, HPV-58, and HPV-33 were the most prevalent subtypes in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade II (CINII) (42.86%) and grade III (CINIII) (59.81%), and accounted for the majority of invasive cervical cancer (ICC) (69.34%). Thus, viral loads of HPV-58, HPV-16, and HPV-33 positively correlated with the severity of cervical lesions (P < 0.001, P = 0.016, P = 0.026, respectively). Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the optimum thresholds for predicting severe intraepithelial lesions of cases (CINI, CINIII and ICC) with HPV-16, HPV-58, and HPV-33, respectively, were obtained, which were 1, 0.93, and 0.25, respectively. In our study, we showed that HPV-16 was the most common carcinogenic HPV subtype in southwestern China followed by HPV-58 and HPV-33. Viral loads of these subtypes are associated with the severity of premalignant lesions in the cervix.