Polymerase chain reaction and deoxyribonucleic acid-sequencing based study on distribution of human papillomavirus 16/18 among histopathological types of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia and primary invasive cervical carcinoma: A scenario in North Bengal, India

Prithwijit Ghosh; Damayanti Das Ghosh; Amita Majumdar Giri; Sharmila Sengupta; Chandana Das; Indranil Mukhopadhyay

doi:10.4103/0976-7800.127786

Polymerase chain reaction and deoxyribonucleic acid-sequencing based study on distribution of human papillomavirus 16/18 among histopathological types of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia and primary invasive cervical carcinoma: A scenario in North Bengal, India

J Midlife Health. 2014 Jan;5(1):14-22. doi: 10.4103/0976-7800.127786.

Authors

Prithwijit Ghosh¹, Damayanti Das Ghosh², Amita Majumdar Giri³, Sharmila Sengupta⁴, Chandana Das⁵, Indranil Mukhopadhyay⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Siliguri, India ; Department of Pathology, DESUN (NEON) Lab, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
² Human Genetics Unit, Biological Sciences Division, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, West Bengal, India ; Cancer Biology and Inflammatory Disorder Division, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
³ Department of Pathology, North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Siliguri, India.
⁴ Human Genetics Unit, Biological Sciences Division, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, West Bengal, India ; Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani, West Bengal, India.
⁵ Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Siliguri, Kolkata, West Bengal, India ; Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
⁶ Human Genetics Unit, Biological Sciences Division, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Abstract

Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16/18 are reportedly most common in cervical cancer (CaCx) with geographical variation of genotypes. HPV16 predominates both in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma in India, contrary to reported global predominance of HPV18 in the latter. Our study was aimed to determine the occurrence of HPV16/18 among histopathological types of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN) and invasive CaCx from North Bengal, India and to identify any major deviation from the known Indian scenario of distribution of HPV16/18 genotypes in cases of SCC and adenocarcinoma.

Materials and methods: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional, case-only type of study, in which 40 cases were histopathologically diagnosed as CIN/CaCx, on which polymerase chain reaction (PCR), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-sequencing and bioinformatics by basic search local alignment tool were performed for HPV-genotyping.

Statistical analysis: The distribution of HPV genotypes among cases of SCC and adenocarcinoma was compared by Fisher's exact-test.

Results: HPV was detected in 97.5% (39/40) cases. HPV16-infected cases (32/39; 82.05%) predominated over HPV18-infected ones (7/39; 17.95%). However, HPV18-only infection was significantly (P = 0.0045, one-sided Fisher's exact test) more among adenocarcinoma (3/4; 75%) than SCC (2/26; 7.69%) contrary to HPV16-only infection (SCC = 24/26, 92.31%; adenocarcinoma = 1/4; 25%) whereas both CIN3 cases were HPV16-positive.

Conclusion: Predominance of HPV18 over HPV16 in cases of adenocarcinoma in this region was contrasting to that of earlier Indian studies suggesting research on HPV18 related cervical carcinogenesis. PCR and DNA-sequencing could prove to be highly effective tools in HPV detection and genotyping. The study reported HPV16/18 infection in almost 98% of the cases, the knowledge about which might prove useful in future population based studies on HPV genotyping and designing of appropriate HPV-vaccines for this region.

Keywords: Cervical cancer; North Bengal; histopathology; human papillomavirus 16/18; polymerase chain reaction.