Human papillomavirus genotype distribution in cytologically screened women from northwest Germany.

INTRODUCTION: In this study, we evaluate the distribution of 24 human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes in a cohort of 3,381 cytologically screened women from a rural area of northwest Germany, in correlation to cytological diagnoses and histological outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We present a retrospective study in which the HPV-genotyping results of women who attended the German cervical screening program were correlated to cytological diagnosis and histological outcome. RESULTS: HPV genotyping showed marked differences among cervical lesions. Although HPV-51 was common in all cervical lesions, it was rarely detected as single-type HPV infection in high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)3 (2/118 cases). HPV-16 and 18 were more common in CIN3 (57.6%) than in CIN2 (21.8%), but they were absent in 42.4% of all CIN3 lesions in our cohort. DISCUSSION: Our data show that HPV-16, HPV-31, HPV-51, HPV-53 and HPV-42 are the most prevalent HPV types in the different cervical lesions in this region of northwest Germany. HPV genotyping has been shown to be a powerful tool to triage atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance lesions. Considering the observed heterogeneity of HPV types in CIN2, it could also be useful to triage CIN2+ lesions. Our results underline the usefulness of a morphologically controlled screening program with HPV genotyping as a powerful additional tool.