Polymorphism and overexpression of HER2/neu among ovarian carcinoma women from Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India.

PURPOSE: Alteration and overexpression of HER2 proto-oncogene have been implicated in the carcinogenesis and prognosis of ovarian cancer. We evaluated this hypothesis among women with ovarian carcinoma patients from Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India. METHODS: Genomic DNA was extracted from 72 case patients and 288 control subjects and was examined for I655V polymorphism by PCR-RFLP based assay. Immunohistochemistry analysis was carried out in order to study the overexpression of HER2 protein. The observed number of each genotype was compared with that expected for a population in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. In analysing the relation between genotype and overexpression of HER2 protein, Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel statistics was used. RESULTS: We found that 20.8% of the case patients and 16.3% of the control subjects were heterozygous for the Val allele and 10 case patients (13.8%) and 3 control subjects (1.1%) were homozygous for this allele (P < 0.001). Compared with women with Ile/Ile genotype, women with Val/Val genotype had an elevated risk of ovarian cancer. The genotype distributions were consistent with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The risk increased with the number of Val allele and women homozygous for the Val allele had 15-fold (OR = 15.3; 95%CI = 4.09-57.31) increased risk of cancer. The patients homozygous for the Valine allele showed strong HER2 protein expression. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the valine allele may be an indicator of genetic susceptibility to ovarian carcinoma in the study population.

Prevalence of high-risk HPV and associated risk factors in cases of cervical carcinoma in Tamil Nadu, India.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of HPV infection among women with cervical cancer in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted with 246 women with cervical cancer and 257 control participants aged between 20 and 70 years. The presence of HPV DNA was determined using the MY09/11 PCR protocol, the GP5(+)/6(+) PCR protocol, and type-specific PCR-based assays. RESULTS: The overall HPV prevalence was 54.9% and HPV 16 was the most prevalent type. The women the most vulnerable for HPV infection were those aged 41 to 60 years. The major contributing risk factors for cervical cancer were having had 3 or more pregnancies (OR 19.2; 95% CI, 10.78-10.16); harboring high-risk HPV DNA (OR 15.3; 95% CI, 9.81-23.8); being a manual worker (OR 14.9; 95% CI, 9.62-23.08); being illiterate (OR 8.28; 95% CI, 5.51-12.43); and having never been screened for cervical dysplasia (OR 6.70; 95% CI, 10.78-34.44). CONCLUSION: The present report on the overall and type-specific prevalence rates and risk burden of HPV infection in Tamil Nadu confirms that screening and vaccination programs are urgently needed in this state to overcome the burden of HPV-associated cervical cancer.

Prevalence and risk factors of HPV infection among women from various provinces of the world.

OBJECTIVE: We set to estimate the genotype-specific prevalence of human papilloma virus (HPV) and its associated risk factors responsible among women with normal and abnormal cytology by systematic literature survey. METHODS: Reports on HPV prevalence published between 2000 and 2011 were retrieved. To be included, studies required information on cervical cytology, plus detailed descriptions of study populations, methods used to collect cervical samples, and assays used for HPV DNA detection and typing. Final analyses included 280 studies of which 120 were included in the final analysis. The OR, 95% CI and P value were calculated using SPSS 16.0. RESULTS: Overall HPV prevalence in 576,281 women was estimated to be 32.1% (95% CI 32.098, 32.102). Corresponding estimates by region showed Eastern Asia (China) with the highest prevalence of about 57.7% of the HPV infection followed by South Central Asia (Indian subcontinent). The HPV prevalence was higher in less developed countries (42.2%) than in more developed regions (22.6%). The type-specific HPV prevalence study showed HPV 16 (9.5%) and 18 (6.2%) to be the prevalent type irrespective of the region of study. First coitus at a younger (≤ 15) age, increased number of pregnancies, increased number of sexual partners, use of contraceptives, smoking and chewing habit and early age at marriage were recognized as the significant risk factors for HPV infection. The phylogenetic analysis of HPV-16 showed the clustering of Indian sequence with the European and American sequences suggesting a similarity between HPV types. Even though the oncogenic proteins of HPV-16 detected in more developed and less developed regions clustered, the prevalence and the severity of the diseases among the less developed regions could be well explained as the exposure of the population to the possible associated risk factors concerning to the living conditions and nature of the life style adopted by the population.