Infectious Agents and Cancer

unofficial impact factor 2.33
Search for
Advanced search
Infectious Agents and Cancer
Tools
Open Access Highly Access Research article

Progression and regression of incident cervical HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18 infections in young women

Ralph P Insinga1*, Erik J Dasbach2, Elamin H Elbasha2, Kai-Li Liaw3 and Eliav Barr4

Author Affiliations

1 Department of Health Economic Statistics, Merck & Co., Inc., UG1C-60, P.O. Box 1000, North Wales, PA 19454-1099, USA

2 Department of Health Economic Statistics, Merck & Co., Inc., UG1C-60, P.O. Box 1000, North Wales, PA 19454-1099, USA

3 Department of Epidemiology, Merck & Co., Inc., UG1D-60, P.O. Box 1000, North Wales, PA 19454-1099, USA

4 Department of Clinical Research, Merck & Co., Inc., UG3CD-28, P.O. Box 1000, North Wales, PA 19454-1099, USA

For all author emails, please log on.

Infectious Agents and Cancer 2007, 2:15 doi:10.1186/1750-9378-2-15

Published: 12 July 2007

Abstract

Background

We describe type-specific progression, regression and persistence of incident human papillomavirus (HPV)-6-11-16 and -18 infections, along with type distribution in cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN) lesions.

Methods

The study population consisted of 16–23 year-old women undergoing Pap testing and cervical swab polymerase chain reaction testing for HPV DNA at approximate 6 month intervals for up to 4 years in the placebo arm of a clinical trial of an HPV 16-vaccine. HPV types in incident infections were correlated with types in lesion biopsy specimens.

Results

56.7% of CIN-1 and nearly one-third of CIN-2/3 lesions following incident HPV-6-11-16 or -18 infections did not correlate with the incident infection HPV type. Cumulative 36-month progression rates to CIN-2/3 testing positive for the relevant HPV type were highest for HPV-16 infections (16.5%), followed by HPV-18 (8.2%). Overall, 26.0% of CIN-1, 50.0% of CIN-2 and 70.6% of CIN-3 biopsies tested positive for HPV-6-11-16-18 infections.

Conclusion

Women with a given HPV type may often be co-infected or subsequently infected with other types which may lead to subsequent cervical lesions. This issue has been addressed in this study reporting data for the natural history of HPV-6-11-16 and -18 infections and is a relevant consideration in designing future studies to evaluate the incidence/risk of CIN following other type-specific HPV infections.