Human Papillomavirus Genotypes in Anal High-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (HSIL): Anal Intraepithelial Neoplasia Grades 2 (AIN2) and 3 (AIN3) Are Different.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Anal high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) can be histomorphologically categorized into anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN) grade 2 (AIN2) and grade 3 (AIN3). Different risk factors for these two categories have been described. We investigated whether there were also differences in lesion-specific human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes. METHODS: The Study of the Prevention of Anal Cancer (SPANC) recruited 617 gay and bisexual men (GBM); 36% of participants were HIV positive. At baseline, 196 men (31.8%) had histologic HSIL lesions. Tissue was available for genotyping in 171, with a total of 239 HSIL lesions (183 AIN3 and 56 AIN2). Using laser capture microdissection, each lesion revealed a maximum of one genotype. RESULTS: High-risk HPV (HR-HPV) genotypes were found in 220 (92.1%) HSIL lesions, with no significant difference between AIN3 (93.4%) and AIN2 (87.5%). AIN3 lesions had significantly more HPV16 (42.1%) than AIN2 lesions (12.5%; P < 0.001) and AIN2 lesions had significantly more non-16 HR-HPV types (75.0%) than AIN3 lesions (51.4%; P = 0.002). These associations were similar for HIV-negative men with HPV16 in 51.1% AIN3 and 18.2% AIN2 (P = 0.001) and non-16 HR-HPV in 40.0% AIN3 and 75.8% AIN2 (P < 0.001). For HIV-positive men, HPV16 remained more frequently detected in AIN3 (33.3% vs. 4.4% for AIN2; P = 0.004), but there was no difference between AIN3 and AIN2 for non-16 HR-HPV (62.4% vs. 73.9%; P = 0.300). CONCLUSIONS: As HPV16 has the strongest link with anal cancer, the subcategorization of HSIL may enable stratification of lesions for anal cancer risk and guide anal HSIL management. IMPACT Stratification of anal cancer risk by histologic HSIL grade.