Physical status of HPV 18 DNA as a potential biomarker for cervical cancer development

During the development of the PhD thesis in Biology in prevention strategies and study potential markers for the development of cancer of the cervix, performed at the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, IP Lisbon, Ana Gradíssimo collected data suggesting that the determination of the physical state of the DNA of human papillomavirus (HPV) may be a marker of progression and/or development of premalignant lesions of this tumor. Being a sexually transmitted infection that affects many women in Portugal, it is important to timely identify women at risk of developing cancer of the cervix without recourse to invasive techniques and thus improve the health care provided to the woman. In this study, we found that for one of the genotypes included in the vaccine, the HPV genotype 18, often associated with the development of adenocarcinoma of the cervix, the determination of the physical state of the viral DNA will highlight the clinically relevant infections of transient infections, aiding follow-up of these women. The presence of viral linear forms is associated with a higher risk of progression of epithelial lesions of the cervix, and as such this methodology can be considered as a potential prognostic marker for this cancer type.

Authors and affiliations:

Ana Gradíssimo¹, Cândida Delgado², Nuno Verdasca¹, Ângela Pista³.

¹ Unidade de Referência para as Infeções Sexualmente Transmissíveis; Departamento de Doenças Infecciosas, INSA.

² Departamento de Bioinformática e Biologia Computacional, ITQB-UNL.

³ Departamento de Doenças Infeciosas, INSA.

Abstract:

The aim of this work was to assess the value of the physical status of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA as a disease marker for cervical cancer development in a set of 248 DNA samples previously genotyped as HPV 16 or 18, by calculating E2/E6 ratio through real-time PCR. There was a significant difference in integration status according to disease grade for both genotypes (p<0.001). Furthermore, especially for HPV 18, determining the DNA physical status could be a useful biomarker in predicting cervical cancer risk development, with a lower E2/E6 ratio clinically associated with the development of a precancerous lesion.

Journal:

Clin Microbiol Inf 2013 May 9

Link:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1469-0691.12233 [Epub ahead of print].