Increased alpha-9 human papillomavirus species viral load in human immunodeficiency virus positive women.

Mbulawa ZZ, Johnson LF, Marais DJ, Gustavsson I, Moodley JR, Coetzee D, Gyllensten U, Williamson AL

BMC Infect. Dis. 14 (-) 51 [2014-01-31; online 2014-01-31]

Persistent high-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and increased HR-HPV viral load are associated with the development of cancer. This study investigated the effect of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection, HIV viral load and CD4 count on the HR-HPV viral load; and also investigated the predictors of cervical abnormalities. Participants were 292 HIV-negative and 258 HIV-positive women. HR-HPV viral loads in cervical cells were determined by the real-time polymerase chain reaction. HIV-positive women had a significantly higher viral load for combined alpha-9 HPV species compared to HIV-negative women (median 3.9 copies per cell compared to 0.63 copies per cell, P = 0.022). This was not observed for individual HPV types. HIV-positive women with CD4 counts >350/μl had significantly lower viral loads for alpha-7 HPV species (median 0.12 copies per cell) than HIV-positive women with CD4 ≤350/μl (median 1.52 copies per cell, P = 0.008), but low CD4 count was not significantly associated with increased viral load for other HPV species. High viral loads for alpha-6, alpha-7 and alpha-9 HPV species were significant predictors of abnormal cytology in women. HIV co-infection significantly increased the combined alpha-9 HPV viral load in women but not viral loads for individual HPV types. High HR-HPV viral load was associated with cervical abnormal cytology.

NGI Uppsala (Uppsala Genome Center)

National Genomics Infrastructure

PubMed 24484380

DOI 10.1186/1471-2334-14-51

Crossref 10.1186/1471-2334-14-51

pii: 1471-2334-14-51
pmc: PMC3922074