Virus papiloma humano en mujeres quechuas jujeñas con alta frecuencia de cancer de cuello uterino: tipos virales y variantes de HPV 16 / Human Papilloma virus in Quechua women from Jujuy with high frequency of cervical cancer: viral types and HPV-16 variants

ABSTRACT

Human Papillomaviruses (HPVs) are etiologically associated to cervical carcinoma. In order to evaluate HPV infection and its relationship with the high frequency of this neoplasia in Quechua women from Jujuy (Argentina), 271 cervical samples from preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions (biopsies) and normal controls (cytologies) were studied. Detection and typing were performed using PCR-RFLP or PCR-hybridization and the HPV-16 variability in L1 and E6 genes (by PCR-hybridization) was analysed. HPV was detected in 52 of controls, 91 of low-grade lesions, 97 of high-grade lesions and 100 of invasive carcinomas, corresponding 55 to HPV-16. HPV-16 European variants were predominant, most of them being non-prototypic strains. The high frequency of high risk infection types and the raised proportion of HPV-16 non-prototypic variants related to a greater oncogenic potential could explain, in part, the high cervical cancer frequency of this native population. These data may contribute to disease control and vaccinal formulation