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. 2024 Jul 11;12(7):1404.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms12071404.

Prevalence of HPV Genotypes among Greek Women in Association with Their Potential to Cause Precancerous Lesions

Athanasia Kafasi  1 , Georgios Kaparos  2 , Vassiliki C Pitiriga  1 , Nikolaos Spanakis  1 , Nikolaos Vlachos  3 , Nikolaos Thomakos  4 , Stamatios Stournaras  5 , Athanasios Tsakris  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of HPV Genotypes among Greek Women in Association with Their Potential to Cause Precancerous Lesions

Athanasia Kafasi et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

The escalating global rates of precancerous lesions associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) types not targeted by current vaccines underscore the need to explore the prevalence of HPV types within the Greek female population and their involvement in precancerous lesion development. In the current study, we enrolled a cohort of 253 women aged 18 to 65 years, residing in Greece, who underwent routine screening in three tertiary care referral hospitals. Each participant completed a demographic questionnaire. An HPV DNA test was administered using the VisionArray® HPV kit (ZytoVision GmbH) to qualitatively detect and genotype 41 clinically relevant HPV genotypes. Of all 253 women examined, 114 (45.1%) tested positive for HPV DNA. The primary type detected was HPV51 (high-risk), present in 21 women (8.3% of the total), followed by HPV54 (low-risk) in 17 women (6.7%); HPV16 (high-risk) ranked third, identified in 14 women (5.5%). Among the HPV-positive women, 65 were positive for high-risk HPV types (57% of HPV-positive women) and were referred for colposcopy and cervical biopsy. These procedures identified 24 women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 (CIN1) lesions and 2 with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 (CIN2) lesions. The most prevalent HPV type among women with CIN1 lesions was HPV16, found in nine (37.5%) women, while HPV51 ranked second, identified in six (25%) women. Both women with CIN2 lesions tested positive for HPV16, whereas one of them was also tested positive for HPV45. Our study is the first to report the prevalence of HPV51 among HPV-positive women in the Greek female population. This highlights the need for further research to fully understand the potential of HPV types not covered by current vaccines, such as HPV51, to cause high-grade lesions or cervical cancer.

Keywords: HPV genotypes; HPV vaccination; HPV51; cervical cancer; human papillomavirus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
HPV types detected among HPV-positive women (n = 114). HR: High-Risk; PHR: Probably High-Risk; and LR: Low-Risk.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentages of HPV-positive women infected by one or more HPV types (n = 114).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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