Prevalence of human papillomavirus in saliva and cervix of sexually active women

ObjectiveHuman papillomavirus (HPV) is strongly associated with cervical cancer and possibly with some oropharyngeal cancers. However, the relation between oral and cervical HPV infection is not fully understood. This study evaluates the prevalence rate and type-concordance of HPVs in these areas.MethodsHPV DNA typing was performed in saliva and cervical specimens of 43 sexually active women, with the use of general consensus PCR and nested PCR (NPCR) tests.ResultsThe prevalence rate of HPV DNA in cervical and saliva samples was 51.2% and 11.6% with general PCR, and 60.5% and 44.2% with NPCR, respectively. The probability of HPV DNA detection with general PCR in saliva was about 8 times lower compared to the cervix (P < 0.001, OR: 0.13, 95% CI: 0.04–0.37), but showed no difference when the more sensitive NPCR method was applied (P = 0.139, OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.22–1.21). The distribution of HPV variants according to their oncogenic potential revealed no statistically significant difference, regardless to the PCR method used for both sites. All general PCR HPV DNA positive saliva specimens belonged to women with cytology findings (n = 5). These women had also 8.5 times higher risk for presenting with positive HPV detection in saliva with the NPCR method (P = 0.009, OR = 8.50, 95% CI: 1.74–39.70).ConclusionsWomen with genital HPV infection are at higher risk for asymptomatic oral HPV infection. Prophylactic HPV-vaccination may reduce the burden of HPV-related diseases in both cervix and oropharynx.

► HPV load is lower in saliva compared to cervix for most sexually active women with HPV DNA presence in cervix.
► There is HPV type concordance between saliva and cervix when a high sensitive molecular method is used.
► All women with a high HPV load in saliva had findings from the cytology test and cervical HPV infection.