Analysis of human papillomavirus type 16 E6 variants in relation to p53 codon 72 polymorphism genotypes in cervical carcinogenesis

This study aimed to assess the role of specific human papillomavirus type 1 6 (HPV-16) variants, in combination with p53 codon 72 polymorphism genotype s, in cervical carcinogenesis. An initial sequence analysis of HPV-16 long control, E6 and E7 regions of 53 well-defined cervical samples containing H PV-16 revealed that a T to G transition at nucleotide position 350 within t he E6 open reading frame was the most common variation, the frequency of wh ich seemed to decrease with increasing severity of the lesion. Therefore, a total of 246 cervical samples of residents of The Netherlands was specific ally analysed for HPV-16 350G/T variants and/or p53 codon 72 genotypes, The se comprised HPV-negative normal cervical scrapes (n = 40), normal cervical scrapes containing HPV-16 (n = 46), scrapes containing HPV-16 from women w ith abnormal cervical cytology participating in a non-intervention follow-u p study without (n = 38) and with (n = 51) a histologically proven cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) III lesion at the end of the study, and ce rvical squamous cell carcinomas (n = 71). Neither specific HPV-16 350G/T va riants nor specific p53 genotypes were associated with a higher risk of dev eloping CIN III or cervical cancer. However, HPV-16 350T variants were sign ificantly over-represented in p53 Arg homozygous women with cervical cancer . This suggests that, in p53 Arg/Arg women, infection with HPV-16 350T vari ants confers a higher risk of cervical cancer.