Human papillomavirus oncogenic expression in the dysplastic portio; an investigation of biopsies from 190 cervical cones

In this study, we investigated the presence of E6/E7 transcripts of seven common high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) types in 190 cervical biopsies. The RNA-based real-time nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay (NASBA) and type-specific PCR, both detecting HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58, as well as consensus PCR, were performed on all 190 biopsies. High accordance between type-specific and consensus PCR confirms that the HPV types included in this study are the most common types present in cervical dysplasia. Furthermore, we see a clear increase in the incidence of HPV, both DNA and RNA, along with the histological severity of dysplasia. HPV RNA was detected in all but two PCR-positive cases, confirming that the virus exerts E6/E7 mRNA expression in cases of high-grade dysplasia. Out of 19 women given a normal or borderline diagnosis at conisation, only four were found HPV positive, which may suggest that unnecessary conisations can possibly be reduced by introducing HPV testing into the preoperative routine assessment.