Integrative and episomal forms of genotype 16 of human papillomavirus in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer

The study involved 500 patients with LSIL (low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion), HSIL (high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion), stage I-IV cervical cancer, infected with human papillomavirus (HPV), as well as 235 women without pathological changes in cervical mucosa. The comprehensive survey included colposcopy, cytological and histological analysis, detection and genotyping of high-risk human papillomavirus. Viral load and physical status of HPV16 DNA was evaluated in cases of mono-infection (n = 148). The prevalence of virus-positive cases among the patients with LSIL/NSIL, cervical cancer patients and healthy women was 69.2%, 76.7% and 51.9%, respectively. An association between the severity of disease and high viral load was revealed. The frequency of integrated DNA was strongly increased in patients with a high viral load. The frequency of episomal forms was either reduced or not detecteable in patients with high viral load as compared to patients with low viral load. It is reasonable to suggest that a high HPV16 viral load may cause an increase in the frequency of integration of virus DNA into the cellular/host genome. This suggests that a high HPV16 viral load may be considered as a risk factor for prognosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer.

human papillomavirus, viral load, integrated and episomal forms of HPV, CIN, cervical cancer