ABSTRACT
HPV infection is known to be associated with cervical cancer development. Precancerous lesions named cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) are divided into 3 grades, i.e., CIN-1, CIN-2, and CIN-3. Here, HPV infection determined by PCR and dot hybridization was observed in these 3 different grades of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissues. The HPV infection was demonstrated in 33.3 per cent of CIN-1, 36.8 per cent of CIN-2 and 75 per cent of CIN-3. Using type specific probes for HPV-6, 11, 16, 18 and 33, HPV-16 was the most prevalent type (44.44%) followed by HPV-18 (16.05%) in CIN-3. Only one HPV-18 was identified in CIN-1 while CIN-2 contained one HPV-6 and one HPV-18. Mixed infection was found in CIN-3 (12.35%). All of them had HPV-16. The cervicitis cases with normal histopathology were included as control. Only 2.7 per cent of HPV infection was shown. The relative risk of HPV infection was high in CIN-3 (OR = 107.25, 95% CI = 50.29-228.73). Our data confirm the association between high-risk HPV types and development of CIN.