Abstract
Aims: Human papillomavirus (HPV) viral load and genotype are the primary determinants for the development of cervical neoplasia. We aim to identify the prevalent HPV genotypes in the women of Shanghai, China and investigate the association between the HPV viral load and the severity of cervical neoplasia. Methods: Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples were obtained from 20 cases of histologically normal cervix, 52 cases of low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), 46 cases of high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), and 29 cases of cervical squamous cervical cancer (SCC). A polymerase chain reaction reverse dot blot (PCR-RDB) genotyping chip was used to examine 23 HPV genotypes. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect the viral load of HPV in the fresh tissue of 80 cases. Results: The HPV infection rate in the 147 cases of cervical biopsies was 73.5%. Fourteen HPV genotypes were detected, including 12 high risk (HR)-HPVs and 2 low-risk (LR)-HPVs. HPV-16 (33.3%), HPV-31 (6.1%), HPV-52 (6.1%), and HPV-58 (5.4%) were the most popular genotypes of HR-HPV. Significant differences were found in HPV viral load between histologically normal cervix and cervix tissues with epithelial dysplasia (P<0.05). There was a statistically insignificant trend of gradual increase of viral load as the epithelial lesion progresses from LSIL to HSIL and to SCC (P>0.05). Conclusions: HPV 16, 31, 52, and 58 are the most prevalent genotypes in women of Shanghai, China. HPV viral load is an indicator of the presence of cervical neoplasia but not an accurate predictor for the severity of cervical neoplasia.