Human telomerase gene amplification and high-risk human papillomavirus infection in women with cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia.

This study was designed to investigate whether a correlation exists between amplification of the human telomerase gene (human telomerase RNA component [TERC]) and high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection in 101 women with cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN). Eight patients (7.9%) had CIN 1, 24 (23.8%) had CIN 2 and 69 (68.3%) had CIN 3. TERC was amplified in 31.7% of all CIN patients. The difference in frequency of TERC amplification between patients with low-grade CIN (CIN 1) and those with high-grade CIN (CIN 2 and CIN 3) was not significant. HR-HPV infection was detected in 88.1% of all CIN cases and was significantly more frequent in patients with CIN 2 and CIN 3 than in patients with CIN 1. There was no significant difference in the frequency of HR-HPV infection between groups of patients with and without TERC amplification. In conclusion, this study found no correlation between TERC amplification and HR-HPV infection in patients with CIN.