HPV infection profile in cervical lesions

The prevalence of the different genotypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) varies depending on lesion severity and geographic region.

To identify multiple HPV infections in low- and high-grade cervical lesions in a group of women from the Mexican Bajío region referred with inconclusive cytology.

Pilot study of women referred from primary care units of Guanajuato, Mexico, with cytology suggestive of cervical lesion. Cervical smears were subjected to DNA extraction and HPV genotyping using microarrays.

100 consecutive cases were collected and 90 were analyzed; HPV positivity was observed in 26% of healthy women, and 62% had some degree of cervical lesion. The most common HPV genotypes were 59, 31, 16 and 51. Multiple infections were found in most samples.

HPV heterogeneity was identified in the samples of the study population in contrast to worldwide reports; furthermore, multiple infections are common in precursor lesions and decrease in high-grade lesions. These data could have an impact on current HPV vaccination programs.