Human papillomavirus genotype distribution among HPV-positive women in Sichuan province, Southwest China

In this hospital-based descriptive study, the genotype distribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) among HPV-infected women were investigated in 4,305 gynecological patients in Sichuan province. Females attending gynecology clinics between March 2014 and March 2015 were subjected to HPV screening after giving informed consent. Cervical scrapings were examined by cytopathology and colposcopy-directed biopsies. HPV genotyping was performed on a Luminex 200 system. Seventeen high-risk (HR) genotypes (HPV-16, -18, -31, -33, -35, -39, -45, -51, -52, -53, -56, -58, -59, -66, -68, -73, and -82) and seven low-risk (LR) genotypes (HPV-6, -11, -42, -43, -61, -81, and -83) were detected. Among all HPV-positive women, 34.1% (1,467/4,305) of the cases showed abnormal cytology and biopsy, including high-grade squamous lesions (HSIL), cervical intraepithelial neoplasias of grades 2 and 3 (CIN2/CIN3), and cervical cancer (CC). HPV-16, -52, and -58 were the predominant genotypes, followed by HPV-56, -18, -59, -39, -53, -33, and -81. A total of 3,785 (87.9%) HPV positive women were found to have HR HPV infection, while 859 (20.0%) were found to have LR HPV infection. Among all patients, 79% (3,401/4,305) were infected with a single strain of HPV, 85.5% (2,907/3,401) cases of which were of the HR HPV genotype. In cervical precancerous lesions (CPLs) and CC patients, HR HPV-16, -58, -52, -33, and -18 were the predominant genotypes. Interestingly, 33 CPL patients had a single LR HPV infection with HPV-61, -11, -81, -6, -43, or -42. Furthermore, one CC patient was infected only with LR HPV-11. According to the abundant genotype diversity of HPV in Sichuan, we suggest that a large-scale epidemiological investigation should be launched, not only to understand the distribution of HPV genotype, but also to provide information needed for HPV vaccination programs and to predict the effectiveness of current vaccines in Southwest China.