Prognostic Significance of Human Papillomavirus Type 16 and 18 in Cervical Cancer

Abstract

To assess the prognostic significance of Human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 and 18 which have been supposed as high risk oncogenic viruses in cervical cancer, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to determine HPV type in formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks. Samples were obtained from patients with stage I and II cervical cancer who underwent surgery from 1985 to 1986 at Seoul National University Hospital. In total 65 patients were enlisted, but 9 patients were excluded in data analysis because of poor amplification of ,a-globin during the PCR procedure. Cilnicopathologic factors (age, stage, histologic type, tumor size, lymph node metastasis) and 5 year survival rate were compared between HPV positive and HPV negative groups. The survival difference between HPV 16 positive and HPV 18 positive cases was also analyzed. HPV 16 /18 positive rate in cervical cancer is 80.4%(45 /56), and there is no significant difference in age, stage, histologic type, tumor size, nodal metastasis by HPV infection status. No difference was found in 5 year survival rate between HPV positive and negative groups. When compared with the HPV 16 positive group, the HPV 18 positive group did not show any difference in prognosis. These data suggested that the presence of HPV 16 or HPV 18 in cervical cancer had no relation with known prognostic factors. Either HPV positivity or HPV type (HPV 16 \IS. HPV 18) did not have any prognostic significance in cervical cancer.