Cancer Control Research
5R01CA078527-02
Burk, Robert D.
PERSISTENT HPV IN WOMEN AT RISK FOR CERVIX CANCER
AbstractDESCRIPTION: Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is one of the
most common sexually transmitted diseases, and it is the causal agent of
cervical squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) and cervical cancer. Data
from the previous prospective studies in young women indicated that HPV
infection was mainly transient. Women who were relatively older, in this
young population with a narrow age range, had more persistent infection than
younger women. Persistent infection, in turn, increases the risk of
development and persistence of SIL. After the infection and cervical lesion
persist, there is risk for progression. It thus appears that although HPV
infection has a high incidence, it is the persistent infection that has
clinical significance. The purposes of this study are to further examine
the natural history of HPV in a population based study with a wide age
range, to identify viral and immunological risk factors for persistent HPV
infection, and to determine whether these biological factors are associated
with age and hence explain the longer duration of HPV among older women.
This proposal will utilize clinical samples and questionnaire data that have
already been collected in a 5-year prospective study in Costa Rica, in which
over 3,000 women at risk for HPV infection were followed at least every 12
months to investigate the natural history of SIL. In this application, all
cervical samples will be tested and typed for HPV DNA by polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) technique, samples positive for 6 HPV types will be sequenced
for type variant, and blood samples will be selected for assays for
antibodies to type-specific HPV virus-like particles (VLPs).
|