Detection of human papillomavirus in intraepithelial lesions and carcinoma of the cervix uteri in southern Thai women.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of high-risk type human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) in preneoplastic lesions and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the cervix uteri in southern Thai women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 148 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks of cervix tissue were retrieved from the files of the Department of Pathology, Prince of Songkla University Hospital. They were classified as negative for intraepithelial lesion (NIL) in 37 cases, low grade lesion (LGL) in 58 cases, high grade lesion (HGL) in 39 cases and SCC in 14 cases. HR-HPV DNA was tested with an Amplicor HPV (Roche Diagnostics) detection kit. RESULTS: Of the 111 cases, 42 of 58 LGLs (72.4%), 34 of 39 HGLs (87.2%) and 13 of 14 SCCs (92.9%) were positive for HR-HPV DNA. In 37 cases of histologically normal cervix, there were 15 cases that showed the presence of HR-HPV DNA. Applying the HR-HPV results for NILs to the general population, the age standardized incidence rate of HR-HPV infection in the normal Thai population was 12.8%. CONCLUSION: HR-HPV DNA can be found in all grades of intraepithelial lesions and carcinoma of the cervix uteri, even in the histologically "normal" looking cervix. These results provide strong evidence for a role in carcinogenesis of the cervix uteri and the existence of a non-productive or latent period of HPV infection.