Prevalence of HPV Types in a Cohort of Greeks with Clinical Indication of Infection

Abstract

Background: Several types of human papilloma virus (HPV) have been associated with increased risk for epithelial malignancies. In light of a recently available vaccine that protects against persistent infection by certain HPV types (6, 11, 16, 18) and resulting neoplasias, the prevalence of HPV types was investigated in a cohort of people with a suspected viral infection. Patients and Methods: The studied material consisted of genital or oral scrapings obtained from 263 consecutively referred Greeks (aged 18-64 years) with a clinical indication of HPV infection. DNA samples isolated from scrapings were tested by PCR, using consensus primers for at least 50 HPV types. In cases of detected viral DNA sequence, HPV typing was performed by restriction analysis using 4 enzymes and confirmed by DNA sequencing. Results: 215/263 (81.7%) of the samples were HPV-positive. HPV types associated with high risk for neoplasias were detected in 91/215 (42.3%), intermediate risk types in 64/215 (29.8%) and low-risk types in 60/215 (27.9%) of the positive samples. A total of 85/215 (39.5%) were positive for one of the vaccine-related types. Furthermore, types 16 and 18 comprised about the same proportion of the high-risk types detected in this study (35/91, 38.5%). Conclusion: The observed high prevalence rate of high-risk types underlines the importance of testing individuals with an indication of a possible HPV infection. In addition, there is a need for prevention strategies, such as the annual Pap smear screening of women, as well as wider use of HPV molecular screening and vaccines targeted at common HPV types.