ABSTRACT
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main cause of cervical cancers and cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN) worldwide. Consequently, it would be useful to evaluate HPV testing to screen for cervical cancer. Recently developed, the second-generation Hybrid Capture (HCA II) test is a non-radioactive, relatively rapid, liquid hybridization assay designed to detect 18 HPV types, divided into high and low-risk groups. We evaluated 1055 women for HPV infection with the HCA II test. Five hundred and ten (48.3 percent) of these women had HPV infection; 60 (11.8 percent) had low cancer-risk HPV DNA; 269 (52.7 percent) had high-risk HPV types and 181 (35.5 percent) had both groups. Hence, 450 women (88.2 percent) in this HPV-infected group had at least one high risk HPV type, and were therefore considered to be at high risk for cancer. Among the group with Papanicolaou (Pap) test results, the overall prevalence of HPV DNA was 58.4 percent. Significant differences in HPV infection of the cervix were detected between Pap I (normal smears) and Pap IV (carcinomas) (p<0.0001). Values of HPV viral load obtained for Pap I and SILs were significantly different, with an upward trend (p<0.0001), suggesting a positive correlation between high viral load values and risk of SIL. Because of the high costs of the HCA II test, its use for routine cervical mass screening cannot be recommended in poor countries. Nevertheless, it is a useful tool when combined with cytology, diagnosing high-risk infections in apparently normal tissues. Use of this technique could help reduce the risk of cancer
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Adult , Middle Aged , Uterine Cervical Dysplasia , DNA, Viral , Nucleic Acid Hybridization , Papillomaviridae , Papillomavirus Infections/pathology , Uterine Cervical Neoplasms , Age Distribution , Brazil , Uterine Cervical Dysplasia , Papillomaviridae , Prevalence , Papillomavirus Infections/complications , Papillomavirus Infections/epidemiology , Risk Factors , Uterine Cervical Neoplasms , Vaginal Smears , Viral LoadABSTRACT
No presente estudo foi determinado a prevalência da infecçäo por HPV pela técnica de captura híbrida em 217 pacientes atendidos pelo Laboratório de análises clínicas da rede privada do Rio de Janeiro. Destes, 184 eram do sexo feminino. Um total de 96 pacientes estavam infectadas por HPV, sendo que 80 apresentavam HPV de alto risco, constitutindo um grupo significativo com maior risco de transformaçäo maligna