Frequency and clinical significance of human β-herpesviruses in cervical samples from Italian women

✍ Scribed by Francesco Broccolo; G. Cassina; S. Chiari; R. Garcia-Parra; A. Villa; B.E. Leone; A. Brenna; G. Locatelli; C. Mangioni; C.E. Cocuzza

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 174 KB
• Volume: 80
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.21054

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are necessary, but not sufficient, for the development of cervical cancer (CC). Human β‐herpesviruses (β‐HHVs) have been suggested as possible cofactors in the oncogenesis of CC. In this cross‐sectional study, the prevalence and possible association of cytomegalovirus (CMV), HHV‐6 and ‐7 with HPV presence was investigated by quantitative real‐time PCR assays in cervical samples obtained from 208 italian women. The two most common high‐risk HPV types found were 31 and 16. Overall, the positive rates for CMV, HHV‐6 and HHV‐7 were 66%, 25%, and 6%, respectively. In particular, the prevalence of CMV was found to be extremely high irrespective of either the cytological category or HPV positivity. The prevalence of HHV‐6 DNA was significantly higher in high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) respect to normal women (P < 0.017); by contrast, the prevalence HHV‐7 DNA was generally low and not associated with SIL. Copresence of CMV and HHV‐6 DNA was found to be significantly higher in patients with SIL respect to normal women (P < 0.05). No correlation was demonstrated between the viral load of all three β‐HHVs and the different cytological stages or with the HPV presence. A few patients with severe disease however showed very high viral loads which for HHV‐6 may be indicative of viral integration. In conclusion, this study suggests that CMV and HHV‐7 alone are probably not implicated in the oncogenesis of CC whilst HHV‐6 alone or together with CMV may contribute to the development of CC. J. Med. Virol. 80:147–153, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.