HPV genotype prevalence in cytologically abnormal cervical samples from women living in south Italy

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the commonest sexually transmitted infection, and high-risk HPV types are associated with cervical carcinogenesis. This study investigated: the HPV type-specific prevalence in 970 women with an abnormal cytological diagnosis; and the association of HPV infection and cervical disease in a subset of 626 women with a histological diagnosis. HPV-DNA was researched by nested PCR/sequencing and the INNOLiPA HPV Genotyping assay. The data were analysed by the chi-square test (p <= 0.05 significant). Overall, the HPV prevalence was 37.7%; high-risk genotypes were found in 88.5% of women and multiple-type infections in 30.9% of the HPV-positive women. The commonest types were HPV- 16 (8.2%), HPV-6 (5.0%), HPV-51 (4.2%) and HPV-53 (3.6%). Among the women with histological diagnosis, HPV was evident in 19.9% of those without lesions, 65.8% of those with low-grade lesions and 100%) = 0.002) of those with high-grade lesions. The commonest types were HPV-16 (in 14.7% low-grade and 42.8% high-grade lesions), HPV-31 (4.7% and 14.3%, respectively) and HPV-33 (2.0% and 14.3%, respectively). Two high-grade lesions contained exclusively one uncommon type, namely, HPV-83 and -85. This study confirmed the high prevalence of HPV infection and high-risk genotypes among women with cervical abnormalities living in Italy. These data may contribute to increasing the knowledge of HPV epidemiology and designing adequate vaccine strategies. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.