Seroprevalence of antibodies against human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 in four continents: the International Agency for Research on Cancer HPV Prevalence Surveys.
BACKGROUND
Few human papillomavirus (HPV) seroprevalence studies have been carried out in women from low-resource countries.


METHODS
Seroprevalence of antibodies against HPV16 and HPV18 was assessed in 7,074 women ≥15 years of age (median 44 years) from eight world areas. Serum antibodies against HPV16 and HPV18 were tested for using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. HPV DNA was assessed using a general primer GP5+/6+-mediated PCR.


RESULTS
HPV16 and HPV18 seroprevalence both ranged from <1% (Hanoi, Vietnam) to >or=25% (Nigeria). Of women who were HPV16 or HPV18 DNA-positive, seropositivity for the same type was 39.8% and 23.2%, respectively. Seropositivity for either type was directly associated with markers of sexual behavior. HPV16 and/or 18 (HPV16/18)-seropositive women had an increased risk of having cytologic abnormalities only if they were also HPV DNA-positive. A high international correlation was found between HPV16/18 seroprevalence and overall HPV DNA prevalence (r = 0.81; P = 0.022). However, HPV16/18 seroprevalence was substantially higher than the corresponding DNA prevalence in all study areas (although to different extents) and, contrary to DNA, tended to increase from young to middle age, and then decline or remain fairly constant. In all study areas, the vast majority of the information on the burden of exposure to HPV16/18 derived from serology.


CONCLUSIONS
The correlation between HPV DNA and HPV serology was not very good at an individual woman level, but high at a population level.


CONCLUSIONS
HPV serology is a poor marker of current infection or related lesions, but it can contribute, together with DNA, in evaluating the variations in the burden of HPV infection worldwide.
Vaccarella
Salvatore
S
International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 cours Albert Thomas, 69372 Lyon cedex 08, France. vaccarella@iarc.fr
Franceschi
Silvia
S
Clifford
Gary M
GM
Touzé
Antoine
A
Hsu
Charles C
CC
de Sanjosé
Silvia
S
Pham
Thi Hoang Anh
TH
Nguyen
Trong Hieu
TH
Matos
Elena
E
Shin
Hai Rim
HR
Sukvirach
Sukhon
S
Thomas
Jaiye O
JO
Boursaghin
Latifa
L
Gaitan
Julien
J
Snijders
Peter J F
PJ
Meijer
Chris J L M
CJ
Muñoz
Nubia
N
Herrero
Rolando
R
Coursaget
Pierre
P
D000328:Adult; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D052162:Human papillomavirus 16 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D052161:Human papillomavirus 18 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies