Detection of high-risk human papillomavirus types 16 and 18 but not 33 and 52 in external genital warts from Iranian females.

BACKGROUND

External genital warts (EGW) are relatively common sexually transmitted diseases. In the majority of cases, low-risk human papilomaviruses (HPV), such as HPV-6 and HPV-11, are responsible but, high-risk types may also be detected and this has a bearing on vaccines for cervical cancer prevention. In this study the incidence of the high-risk HPV types 16, 18, 33 and 52 in EGWs of females from the southwest of Iran was assessed.

METHODS

Seventy-nine women with EGWs participated in this study. Quantitative real-time PCR with gene specific primers and probes for the E6 gene of HPV-16, 18, 33 and 52, were used for the detection of HPV DNA in the tissue and blood samples.

RESULTS

Of the 79 tissue specimens, 13 (16.5%) were HPV positive, only genetic materials of HPV-16 and HPV-18 being detected, twelve patients (15.2%) were positive only for HPV-18 and the coexistence of HPV-16 and HPV-18 was shown in one patient. Only one plasma sample showed evidence of HPV-16 with very low viral load.

CONCLUSION

Our data showed that high-risk HPV types can be found in the tissue specimens of EGW samples obtained from female patients in the Southwest of Iran, with HPV-18 as the most abundant type; however, additional studies with a larger population are required to prove the finding and help to determine the most appropriate type of virus for vaccine design for Iranian women.