17/09/2011

27° Conferenza Internazionale e Clinical Workshop sul Papillomavirus.
17 – 22 Settembre 2011: 27° Conferenza Internazionale e Clinical Workshop sul Papillomavirus, Berlino (Germania) A. De Montis, bcs Biotech SpA, Cagliari, ITALY

Background:
Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in Benin. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the prevalence of high-risk oncogenic Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) types using both L1 and E6/E7region as DNA targets.Methods. 239 women DNA from cervical swabs were evaluated by new biochip platform for the detection of two HPV genomic sequences: L1, 34 types including both oncogenic high (HR) and low (LR) risk types, and E6/E7, nine genetic groups comprising only high-medium risk types. The correlation of genotypes with the cytological results was also evaluated.

Results:
Samples tested were: 24 invalids, 108 negative, 107 positive for HPV DNA. Among positive samples, 41 DNA (38%) were positive for E6/E7 sequences of HR HPV types no detectable respect to L1 region. The type were conirmed by sequencing method. The cytological analysis showed that 11 of 41 were High-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (HSIL), 2 were Low-grade, 13 were Atypical Squamous Cells of Undetermined Signiicance (ASCUS). Among HR virus detectable thanks to L1 speciic probes, HPV-59 genotype was the most frequent, followed in order by HPV-16, HPV-35, HPV-18, and HPV-58. Among HR virus detectable only respect to E6/E7 speciic probe, HPV-35 genotype was the most frequent, followed in order by HPV-16, HPV-58, HPV-52 and HPV-33. The most frequent LR HPV type was HPV-81, followed by HPV-40, HPV-67, HPV-11, and HPV-42. In 10% of samples the LR types were in coinfection with non typable L1 HR HPV.

Conclusions:
The data highlighted the importance of seeking also genomic E6/E7 in order to reduce the number of false negatives and to exclude the persistence of undetectable or underdiagnosed HR virus. This pilot study conirmed that in Benin there was a substantial presence of HPV genotypes against which the vaccines available do not show cross-protection eicacy.