Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in patients with Cervical Cancer and Chronic Cervicitis in Isfahan, Iran

Background and Objectives: HPV is classified into cutaneous and mucosal groups based on the infection site and into high-risk and low-risk groups based on its association with cervical cancer. It is estimated that over 80% of sexually active individuals acquire HPV at least once in their lifetime, and numerous new cases of cervical cancer attributed to HPV high-risk types occur each year globally. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of HPV in cervical tumor specimens and chronic inflammation samples in Isfahan, Iran.
Materials & Methods: A total of 122 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples were collected, including 43 malignant cervical tumors (twenty-one adenocarcinoma, two cervical dysplasia, and two cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (SCC)) and 79 chronic cervical inflammation samples. After cutting 4-μm sections, the samples were deparaffinized with xylene, viral DNA was extracted using the phenol-chloroform-isoamyl alcohol method. Nested-PCR was performed on the extracted DNAs using universal primers MY09/MY11 and GP5/GP6 which amplify a conserved region of the L1 gene in HPV genome. Second-stage PCR products were visualized by electrophoresis on a 2% agarose gel. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS and GraphPad Prism software. Four PCR products were randomly selected and sequenced. Sequence alignments were performed in EMBL using WU-BLAST2.
Results: Neither of the two SCC samples showed HPV infection. Among the 21 adenocarcinoma samples, 23.8%, and among 20 cervical dysplasia samples, 40% were HPV-positive. Notably, 98.7% of the chronic cervical inflammation samples were HPV-positive. The sequences of four randomly selected strains were deposited in the GenBank with accession numbers of GQ179958, GQ179959, GQ452049, and GQ452050.
Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of HPV screening in cervical inflammation and precancerous lesions and can help formulate health policies and cervical cancer prevention programs for the Iranian population.