Human Papillomavirus Distribution among Women in Western Shandong Province, East China using Reverse Blot Hybridization Assay

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women worldwide and there is a significant association between human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical cancer. Certain HPV groups, labeled high-risk (HR) HPV groups, are strongly associated with malignancies of the human cervix. HPV prevalence and genotype distribution were analyzed using the REBA $HPV-ID^{(R)}$ (YD Diagnostics, Yongin, Korea) assay based on the reverse blot hybridization assay (REBA) with a total of 324 liquid-based cytology samples from women in Western Shandong Province, East China and results were compared with cytological diagnosis. Most of the HPV genotypes that were detected in high-grade cervical lesions were HR-HPV genotypes such as HPV 16, 18, 33, 53, and 58. The prevalence of these HR-HPV genotypes increased in high-grade cervical lesions. However, from low- to high-grade cervical lesions, the ability to detect LR-HPV genotypes decreased. Additionally, in general, the single HPV genotype infection rate increases in proportion to the severity of the lesion. The study findings suggest that a currently available preventive vaccine against HPV 16 and 18 may have limited effectiveness for prevention of all HPV infection in this province. Finally, based on these findings, these data could guide national or regional vaccination programs in the Western Shandong Province of East China to substantially reduce the burden of cervical lesions.