title: Surveillance of human papilloma virus infection and cervical cancer in kidney transplant recipients: preliminary data.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Development of cancer after transplantation has rapidly became one of the leading causes of death in kidney transplant recipients with functioning grafts. Anogenital malignant neoplasms may occur with a 14-fold increased incidence, and human papilloma virus (HPV) infection has been recently identified as the leading cause of cervical carcinoma. We report the preliminary findings of a prospective study that evaluated the incidence of HPV infection and cervical carcinoma in a population of kidney transplant recipients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 35 female recipients of a deceased donor kidney with at least 6 months of follow-up. All patients underwent a cervicovaginal brushing, an HPV DNA test, and a Papanicolaou test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-two patients (62.8%) were positive for HPV DNA. Thirteen of 22 HPV DNA-positive recipients (59%) demonstrated a high-risk HPV genotype. No cytologic anomalies were detected in Papanicolaou smears.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These preliminary data demonstrated a high incidence of HPV infection in renal transplant recipients. Most of our recipients exhibited a high-risk HPV genotype, which suggests higher aggressiveness of such infection in immunosuppressed patients. The HPV test is useful to monitor patients at higher risk of anogenital malignant neoplasms by identifying the cytologic anomalies at an earlier stage. This ongoing study will investigate the rate of progression of HPV infection and the clinical patterns of HPV-positive cytologic anomalies in renal transplant recipients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Transplantation and Advanced Technologies, Vascular Surgery and Organ Transplant Units, University Hospital of Catania, Catania, Italy. veroux@unict.it
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Veroux
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Corona
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scalia
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Garozzo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gagliano
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giuffrida
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Costanzo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giaquinta
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Palermo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zappalà
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tallarita
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zerbo
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cappellani
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franchina
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Scriffignano
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Veroux
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D052685:Alphapapillomavirus; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008875:Middle Aged; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D066027:Transplant Recipients; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology