[Prevalence of HPV infection in precancerous and cancerous lesions of the uterine cervix in Tunisia].
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.
Missaoui
Nahiba
N
Unité de Recherche 03/UR/08-13, Cytopathologie et Epidémiologie des Cancers dans le Centre Tunisien, Faculté de Médecine, Sousse, Tunisie. missaouinahiba@live.fr
Hmissa
Sihem
S
Trabelsi
Amel
A
Tahar Yacoubi
Mohamed
M
Nouira
Amel
A
Frappart
Lucien
L
Mokni
Moncef
M
Korbi
Sadok
S
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*
D004279:DNA, Viral