title: [Prevalence of HPV infection in precancerous and cancerous lesions of the uterine cervix in Tunisia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the distribution of HPV genotypes inuterine cervical lesions in Central Tunisia in order to predict the impact ofHPV vaccines and HPV-based screening tests among Tunisian women.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective study of 146 fixed tissues including 30 benign lesions, 36 low-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN1), 45 high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN2/3), 26 invasive squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and 9 adenocarcinomas. HPV infection detection and typing were investigated by PCR technique using consensus GP5/GP6 primers and type specific primers for HPV6/11, 16, 18, 31 and 33.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among our patients, overall HPV prevalence was 73.6% (p = 0.0001). HPV infection was associated to 84% of precancerous lesions and 83.9% of cancers. High-risk HPV infection (HPV16 and 18) was detected in 17.4% of CIN1, 74.3% of CIN2/3 (p = 0.002) and 73.1% of cancers (p = 0.001). HPV16 was the most common type among CIN2/3 (51.2%, p < 0.001), invasive SCC (47.6%, p = 0.001) and adenocarcinomas (80%, p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study supports previous population-based studies in which similar HPV detection rates were found among random samples of women. HPV-based screening tests and HPV vaccination would be efficient in uterine cervix cancer prevention among women in the Central Tunisia.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche 03/UR/08-13, Cytopathologie et Epidémiologie des Cancers dans le Centre Tunisien, Faculté de Médecine, Sousse, Tunisie. missaouinahiba@live.fr
authors.forename: Nahiba
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Missaoui
authors.forename: Sihem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hmissa
authors.forename: Amel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trabelsi
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tahar Yacoubi
authors.forename: Amel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nouira
authors.forename: Lucien
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Frappart
authors.forename: Moncef
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mokni
authors.forename: Sadok
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Korbi
mesh_terms: D002277:Carcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014416:Tunisia; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral