Prevalence of type-specific oncogenic human papillomavirus infection assessed by HPV E6/E7 mRNA among women with high-grade cervical lesions

• The prevalence of all high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) types in relation to age, cytology, and histology of oncogenic HPV infection among women was investigated using an HPV E6/E7 mRNA assay.
• The overall prevalence of HPV infection was 33.2% and oncogenic HR-HPV was detected in 75.9% of women with high-grade cervical lesions.
• Set 1 (HPV 16, 31, 33, 35, 52, and 58) accounted for up to 84% of high-grade cervical lesions by HPV mRNA.
• HPV 16 (41.6%) was the most common HPV genotype among women with high-grade cervical lesions.
• Among patients diagnosed with CIN2+, the positivity rate of HR-HPV was the highest in women aged 40 to 49 years.

SummaryObjectivesHuman papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a major cause of premalignant dysplasia and cervical cancer. There are no data on the prevalence of genotype-specific HPV infection assessed by HPV E6/E7 mRNA in women representative of the Korean population across a broad age range.MethodsA total of 630 women aged 17–90 years were enrolled in this study. ThinPrep liquid-based cytology samples were evaluated using the CervicGen HPV RT-qDx assay, which detects 16 high-risk (HR) HPV genotypes (set 1: HPV 16, 31, 33, 35, 52, and 58; set 2: HPV 18, 39, 45, 51, 59, and 68; and set 3: HPV 53, 56, 66, and 69).ResultsThe overall prevalence of HPV infection was 33.2% (n = 209), and oncogenic high-risk HPV was detected in 75.9% (n = 107) of 141 women with high-grade cervical lesions. HPV 16 was the most common HPV genotype among women with high-grade cervical lesions and histologically confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 and above (CIN2+) in the Republic of Korea (41.6%). Among women aged over 30 years, 182/329 (55%) had invasive cervical cancer and 135 (74%) of these were infected with oncogenic HR-HPV types (in particular 25% with HPV 16). Among patients diagnosed with CIN2+, the positivity rate of HR-HPV was the highest in women aged 40–49 years.ConclusionsThese results suggest that the determination of specific HPV genotypes is very important for evaluating the potential impact of preventive measures, including the use of prophylactic vaccines, on reducing the burden of cervical cancer.