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Abstract

Title: Semiquantitative human papillomavirus type 16 viral load and the prospective risk of cervical precancer and cancer.
Author: Castle PE, Schiffman M, Scott DR, Sherman ME, Glass AG, Rush BB, Schussler JE, Wacholder S, Lorincz AT
Journal: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 14(5):1311-1314
Year: 2005
Month: May

Abstract: We examined whether higher human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) viral load predicted risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (CIN3) or cancer (together termed >/=CIN3) within a cohort of 20,810 women followed for 10 years with cytologic screening. Semiquantitative viral load for HPV16 was measured on baseline cervicovaginal specimens using a type-specific hybridization probe test with signal amplification. An increased risk of >/=CIN3 associated with higher HPV16 viral load was found only among cytologically negative women in early follow-up, suggesting that these cases were related to the detection of prevalent lesions missed at baseline. Women with higher HPV16 viral load were more likely to undergo ablative treatment during follow-up than those with lower viral load (P(trend) = 0.008), possibly diminishing any additional risk for >/=CIN3 attributable to higher HPV16 viral loads.