PREVALENCE OF HPV IN PREMALIGNANT AND MALIGNANT CERVICAL LESIONS IN GREENLAND AND DENMARK - PCR AND IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION ANALYSIS ON ARCHIVAL MATERIAL

Archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded cervical specimens from 125 women in Greenland and 139 women in Denmark who had CIN I-III or cervi cal cancer diagnosed between 1983 and 1987 were analysed for human pap illomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) by in situ hybridization and for HPV-16, 18, 31, 33, 35 and 45 by PCR. In situ hybridization analysis showed an HPV-16 prevalence of 17 % (16/95) and 23 % (24/105) in the premaligna nt lesions from Greenland and Denmark, respectively. The HPV-16 preval ence rate in the cancer specimens was 10 % (3/30) in the samples from Greenland and 29 % (10/34) in the Danish specimens. A total of 82 Gree nlandic and 107 Danish specimens were P-globin-positive by PCR reactio n. HPV-16-specific PCR on these samples showed 63 % (34/54) of the Gre enlandic and 68 % (50/74) of the Danish preinvasive lesions to be posi tive. The corresponding HPV-16-positive rates for the invasive cancers were 82 % (23/28) for Greenland and 70 % (23/33) for Denmark. This st udy of patient samples supports our previous population-based studies in which similar HPV-detection rates were found among random samples o f women from Greenland and Denmark, although Greenland has a 4-5-fold higher cervical cancer incidence.