Sexually transmitted infections in oral cavity lesions: Human papillomavirus, Chlamydia trachomatis, and Herpes simplex virus.

Objective: Provide evidence of HPV, C. trachomatis, and HSV infection in the oral cavity from patients with different types of stomatological lesions. Materials and Methods: Oral swabs samples were collected from a total of 318 patients. The infectious agents were analyzed using the PCR technique. HPV genotyping and HSV type were studied using the RFLP method. Results: We studied 137 benign lesions (B), 96 potentially malignant disorders (PMD) and 85 oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC). The prevalence of HPV was 34%. The most frequently genotypes detected were 6 low risk and 16 high risk. The prevalence of C. trachomatis was 16% and HSV 3%. Co-infections were detected mostly in benign lesions as following: HPV-C. trachomatis in 4%, C. trachomatis- HSV in 1.8% and HPV-HSV in 0.3%. Conclusion: This report is the first contribution to the identification and genotype characterization of HPV in a scenario little studied in our area, and it also contributes to improving our understanding on sexually transmitted infectious agents and their associations with the oral cavity. Besides, we detect the presence of C. trachomatis and HSV and co-infection with HPV in the oral cavity, which they should be taken into account for diagnostic and treatment purposes.

Mutation detection of E6 and LCR genes from HPV 16 associated with carcinogenesis.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for one of the most frequent sexually transmitted infections. The first phylogenetic analysis was based on a LCR region fragment. Nowadays, 4 variants are known: African (Af-1, Af-2), Asian-American (AA) and European (E). However the existence of sub-lineages of the European variant havs been proposed, specific mutations in the E6 and LCR sequences being possibly related to persistent viral infections. The aim of this study was a phylogenetic study of HPV16 sequences of endocervical samples from Cordoba, in order to detect the circulating lineages and analyze the presence of mutations that could be correlated with malignant disease. The phylogenetic analysis determined that 86% of the samples belonged to the E variant, 7% to AF-1 and the remaining 7% to AF-2. The most frequent mutation in LCR sequences was G7521A, in 80% of the analyzed samples; it affects the binding site of a transcription factor that could contribute to carcinogenesis. In the E6 sequences, the most common mutation was T350G (L83V), detected in 67% of the samples, associated with increased risk of persistent infection. The high detection rate of the European lineage correlated with patterns of human migration. This study emphasizes the importance of recognizing circulating lineages, as well as the detection of mutations associated with high-grade neoplastic lesions that could be correlated to the development of carcinogenic lesions.