[Investigation of human papillomavirus, its types and variants]

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in Lithuania. It is the fourth cancer in women according to the morbidity. The incidence rate of cervical cancer has been increasing in Lithuania since 1992. One of the important risk factor for cervical cancer is human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The aim of this study is to compare the prevalence of human papillomavirus among cervical cancer patients and women with cervical intraepithelial lesions and healthy women, to determine its types and HPV 16 variants. Polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing were used for analysis of specimens taken from cervix uteri. Human papillomavirus was detected in 92.7% of cervical cancer patients and in 26.7% of control women (p<0.0001). It is important to notice that prevalence of HPV in women with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions was higher than in the control group. HPV 16 (55.8% in squamous cell carcinoma patients and 35.3% in cervical adenocarcinoma patients) and its European HPV 16 L83V variant were detected more frequently in cervical cancer patients. Studies on HPV, prevalence of its types and variants are very important for HPV based preventive strategies, especially for the vaccination.