Human papillomavirus genotype spectrum in Czech women: Correlation of HPV DNA presence with antibodies against HPV-16, 18, and 33 virus-like particles

Because the biological spectrum of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes pre sent in cervical cancer lesions varies according to the geographical region studied, and because little genotype information is available for Central and Eastern European countries, we studied the endemic HPV-genotype spectru m in cervical samples collected from women visiting gynaecological departme nts of selected hospitals in the Czech Republic. In a series of 389 samples , 171 (44.0%) were positive for HPV DNA using a consensus-primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Genotyping of the HPV PCR products was done using do t-blot hybridisation with type-specific oligonucleotide probes and thermocy cle DNA sequencing. Twenty-two different HPV types were detected, HPV-16 be ing the most prevalent type irrespective of severity of the lesions (55.0%) . Multiple HPV types were found in 16.4% of our HPV-DNA-positive samples. T he prevalence of HPV infection was 23.0% in women with normal findings and 59.4% in patients with cervical neoplasia, and increased significantly with the severity of the disease: 52.9% in low-grade lesions, 58.0% in high-gra de lesions, and 73.5% in cervical carcinomas (P for trend < .00001). In the sera of 191 subjects, 89 with normal findings and 102 with different forms of cervical neoplasia, the prevalence of HPV-specific IgG antibodies was t ested by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using virus-like part icles (VLPs) of HPV-16, -18, and -33. Antibodies were significantly more pr evalent in HPV-DNA-positive than in HPV-DNA-negative women and there was no association with age. In agreement with the results of HPV genotyping, ant ibodies reactive with HPV-16 VLPs were the most frequent and, moreover, the ir prevalence increased with the cervical lesion severity. About half of th e subjects with smears in which either HPV-16 or HPV-33 DNA had been detect ed possessed antibodies reactive with homotypic VLPs. With HPV-18-DNA-posit ive subjects, however, fewer than 25% displayed homotypic antibodies. In ge neral, subjects older than 30 years of age had antibodies reactive to HPV-s pecific VLPs more often than subjects younger than 30 years of age. In wome n with benign findings, the seropositivity to HPV-16, -18, and -33 VLPs inc reased with age, whereas in women with cervical neoplasia the seropositivit y decreased with age. J. Med. Virol. 58:378-386, 1999.