Genomic variants of human papillomavirus genotypes 16, 18, and 33 in women with cervical cancer in Slovenia

Aim: Our aim was to analyze genomic variants of the three most common human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes found in Slovenian women with cervical cancer (CC). Material & Methods: A total of 40 isolates of HPV 16, 20 isolates of HPV 18 and 11 isolates of HPV 33 were included in the study. The genomic diversity of HPV 16, HPV 18 and HPV 33 isolates was investigated within the long control region (LCR), and E6 and E7 genomic regions using direct polymerase chain reaction-sequencing. Results: A total of 26 genomic variants of HPV 16, consisting of 22 LCR, 10 E6 and 5 E7 variants were identified. Thirty-eight (95%) HPV 16 isolates belonged to the European branch, one (2.5%) to the African 2 branch and one (2.5%) to the Asian-American branch. A total of 18 genomic variants of HPV 18 consisting of 18 LCR, two E6 and four E7 variants were identified: 19 (95%) HPV 18 isolates belonged to the European branch and one (5%) to the African branch. A total of seven genomic variants of HPV 33 consisting of seven LCR, two E6 and three E7 variants were identified: five (45.5%) HPV 33 isolates belonged to prototypic and six (54.5%) to non-prototypic HPV 33 genomic variants. Conclusions: The majority of HPV 16 and HPV 18 isolates from Slovenian patients with CC analyzed in this study belonged to European branches. Prototypic and non-prototypic HPV 33 genomic variants were equally distributed among Slovenian patients with CC. Several novel mutations were identified in all three genotypes examined.