High-risk HPV infection among the tribal and non-tribal women of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

摘要

Papovaviruses have long been considered as examples of tumour-inducing agents, and human papilloma viruses (HPVs) are associated with benign self-limiting cutaneous and mucosal proliferation in their natural hosts. Cervical cancer is the leading gynaecological malignancy worldwide, and its incidence is very high in Indian women. Current biological and epidemiological data strongly relate certain HPV types to cervical oncogenesis, but their oncogenic potential and prevalence differ geographically and by ethnicity. Molecular epidemiological studies on cervical cancer from India show HPV positivity rates as high as 98% in women with invasive cancer, with HPV type 16 accounting for more than 90%. A meta-analysis of nine studies from India by Bhatla et al. revealed an overall HPV prevalence of 12% in women with normal cytology and 94.6% in women with invasive cervical cancer. Despite the high incidence of cervical cancer in India, few large-scale population-based studies have been conducted on the prevalence and genotype distribution of HPV. The HPV type distribution among the HPV-positive cancers in a rural community in Hyderabad showed that HPV types 16 (66.7%) and 18 (19.4%) were most common, followed by HPV types 33, 35, 45, 52 , 58, 59 and 73.