Abstract
The objective of study was to characterize HPV in vaginal samples from women being seen at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Weill Cornell Medicine before and following ovarian stimulation. A total of 29 women made samples available for analysis by viral metagenomics. Eighteen women were HPV-positive, six (33.3%) at their initial visit and 15 (83.3%) following hormone stimulation (p = 0.0059). Pairwise comparison of nucleotide sequences and phylogenetic analysis showed the classification sequences into two genera: Alphapapillomavirus and Gammapapillomavirus. Sequences were from 8 HPV types: HPV 51 (n = 2), HPV 68 (n = 1), HPV 83 (n = 9), HPV 84 (n = 2), HPV 121 (n = 6), HPV 175 (n = 1) and HPV 190 (n = 1). Additionally, C16b and C30 likely represent new types. In summary, multiple HPV types are present in the vagina of reproductive age women and are induced by hormone used to stimulate ovulation.