Molecular evaluation of the prevalence of oncogenic human papillomavirus genotypes in cervical acetowhite lesions

The actual prevalence of cancer-related human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes in cervical acetowhite lesions has not been established. In this work, the presence of oncogenic types of HPV in cervical acetowhite tissue was evaluated by molecular means. The presence of HPV DNA was determined in a group of women with and without cervical acetowhite lesions by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the MY09/MY11 primers. The presence of 13 oncogenic HPV types was evaluated using the Hybrid Capture II test, and the prevalence of HPV type 16 (HPV16) was studied using an HPV16-specific PCR. HPV DNA was detected in 85.9% patients with acetowhite lesions; oncogenic HPV types were found in 83.7% of them; HPV16 was identified in 51.1% of the cases. HPV DNA was detected in 87.3% of the patients without acetowhite changes. Interestingly only 16.8% were infected by oncogenic genotypes and 2.5% were positive for the presence of HPV16. In conclusion, subclinical infection by oncogenic HPV genotypes is associated with the presence of acetowhite cervical tissue (p < 0.0005). Therefore, women showing acetowhite lesions might be at risk of developing cervical cancer. Received: September 5, 2001 Accepted after revision: March 19, 2002 Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel.