Human papilloma virus DNA exposure and embryo survival is stage-specific

Purpose: Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been shown to disrupt late-stage implanting embryos. The objectives were (a) to assess the development of early embryos exposed to HPV DNA and (b) to analyze the blastocyst hatching process after HPV exposure. Methods: The study involved exposing two-cell and 4-8-cell mouse embryos to DNA fragments from either HPV type 16, type 18 or DQA1 (control). The embryos were incubated for 120 h and assessed. Results: HPV 16 and 18 inhibited two-cell embryo development. In contrast, delaying the exposure of HPV DNA until the 4-8-cell stage resulted in further embryonic development. There was 25.9% less blastocyst formed with HPV 16 exposure. Additionally, there were 25.9-31.8% more degenerated embryos with HPV 16 exposure. Conclusions: The study demonstrated embryo stage-specific effects of HPV on early development. The results suggested HPV exposure was linked to two-cell embryo demise and delaying the exposure of HPV until later embryo stages permitted embryo development. HPV 16 was shown to decrease blastocyst formation while HPV 18 inhibited the blastocyst hatching process.