Human papillomavirus genotype as a prognostic factor in carcinoma of the uterine cervix

The clinical implications of specific human papillomavirus (HPV) types in invasive cervical carcinomas are only now beginning to be appreciated. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical implications and prognostic value of the HPV genotype in cervical carcinomas. In this study, we employed an HPV DNA chip to detect the type-specific sequence of HPV from cervical swabs taken from women with biopsy-proven neoplastic lesions of the cervix. We divided the patients into four groups: HPV-negative, HPV-16-related, HPV-18-related, and intermediate risk type-related. Associations with clinicopathologic data (stage, histologic type, lymph node status, parametrial invasion, lymphvascular space invasion, tumor size, vaginal involvement) and overall survival were assessed. HPV DNA was detected in 81.4% of the patients, and 19.0% harbored multiple HPV variants. HPV-16-related was the predominant type and was detected in 47.4% (46/97) of the patients. The HPV-16-related types were detected more frequently in patients with squamous cell carcinomas, whereas the HPV-18-related types were more prevalent in cases of adenocarcinomas and adenosquamous carcinomas (P < 0.05). Otherwise, no significant correlations were detected between the HPV genotype and any other clinicopathologic parameters. After a median follow-up of 30 months, the 5-year survival rate was lower in the HPV-18-related patients, but this difference was not found to be statistically significant, according to the results of the log-rank test. We conclude that neither the presence nor type of HPV DNA bears any prognostic significance in cases of cervical carcinoma.