Human Papillomavirus Screening: Study of HPV prevalence and cervical cancer in North Indian Women Population

Background: Genotyping of Human PapillomaVirus (HPV) has become a necessary criterion to establish a clear connection between the efficiency of HPV vaccine clinical trials and HPV prevalence worldwide. HPV infections contribute to 40%-60% of all known cancers and its screening and vaccination is an important aspect for a healthy life in females. Studies in North India Population have not been conducted yet in this regard. Materials & Methods: In this study, overall HPV prevalence and type specific prevalence were assessed in cervical smear of 2700 samples, using real time polymerase chain reaction for screening and linear array assay for genotyping. HPV status was studied in relation to age and other lifestyle factors. Results: Twenty per cent of samples were HPV positive. HPV type diversity was broad, and multiple strains of HPV infections occurred in half of the HPV positive samples. Younger women were significantly more likely to harbor multiple high risk HPV (HR-HPV) infections. Infections with high risk HPV types were found to be 41% of positive tested samples followed by 35% of moderate risk HPV types. The 41% infections were contributed by HPV type 16 and 18 alone. Conclusion: HR-HPV infections were most prevalent in North Indian women population due to multiple factors related to the marital and sexual life style of the subjects. Extensive cross-cultural study needs to be conducted to reach some scientific conclusion that will help the medical community in developing targeted therapeutics against HPV and thus will help in mitigating the burden of cervical cancer in the society.