Prevalence and molecular epidemiology of human papillomavirus infection in Italian women with cervical cytological abnormalities

  • Angelo Meloni
    Section of Hygiene, Department of Public Health, Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Cagliari University, Italy.
  • Roberta Pilia
    Section of Hygiene, Department of Public Health, Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Cagliari University, Italy.
  • Marcello Campagna
    Section of Hygiene, Department of Public Health, Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Cagliari University, Italy.
  • Antonella Usai
    Section of Hygiene, Department of Public Health, Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Cagliari University, Italy.
  • Giuseppina Masia
    Section of Hygiene, Department of Public Health, Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Cagliari University, Italy.
  • Valeria Caredda
    Centre for Women Health, Local Health District of Cagliari, Italy.
  • Rosa Cristina Coppola
    Section of Hygiene, Department of Public Health, Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Cagliari University, Italy.

ABSTRACT

Background. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the most common sexually transmitted infection and high-risk HPV types are a necessary cause for the development of cervical cancer. The present study investigated the HPV-type specific prevalence in 650 women, aged 15-76 years, with cytological abnormalities and the association between HPV infection and cervical disease in a subset of 160 women for whom cytological results for Pap-Test were available, during the period 2008-2011 in Cagliari (Southern Italy).

Design and Methods
. HPV-DNA extraction was performed by lysis and digestion with proteinase K and it was typed by using the INNOLiPA HPV Genotyping Assay.

Results
. Overall the HPV prevalence was 52.6%; high-risk genotypes were found in 68.9% of women and multiple-type infection in 36.1% of HPV-positive women. The commonest types were HPV-52 (23.4%), HPV-53 (15.7%), HPV-16 (15.4%) and HPV-6 (12.4%). Among the women with cytological diagnosis, any-type of HPV DNA was found in 49.4% of the samples and out of these 93.7% were high-risk genotypes. Genotype HPV 53 was the commonest type among women affected by ASCUS lesions (21.4%), genotype 52 in positive L-SIL cases (22.5%), genotype 16 H-SIL (27.3%).

Conclusions
. This study confirmed the high prevalence of HPV infection and high-risk genotypes among women with cervical abnormalities while, unlike previously published data, genotype HPV-52 was the most common type in our series. These data may contribute to increase the knowledge of HPV epidemiology and designing adequate vaccination strategies.