Evaluation of adenoassociated virus 2 and human papilloma virus 16 and 18 infection in cervical cancer biopsies

Objective. Protective roles of adenoassociated virus (AAV) 2 in cervical tumorigenesis are controversial. In an effort to clarify this issue, we tested prevalence of AAV 2 and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in cervical lesions and adjacent normal tissues. Methods. Tissues of cervical intraepithelial neoplasm (CIN) 1 (20 patients), CIN 11 (24 patients), CIN 111 (25 patients), and invasive cancer (23 patients) were investigated by microdissection and PCR using HPV-16-, HVP-18-, and AAV-2-specific primers. Results. AAV 2 was detected in I I out of 20 CIN 1 (55%), 21 out of 24 CIN 11 (84.5%), 13 out of 25 CIN 111 (52%), and 12 out of 23 invasive cancer cases (52.2%). However, HPV 16 was detected in none out of 20 CIN 1, 2 out of 24 CIN 11 (8.3%), 6 out of 25 CIN III (24%), and 6 out of 23 invasive cancer cases (26.1%). HPV 18 was detected in 1 case in CIN 11 (4.2%) and 2 cases in CIN 111 (8%). In 92 perilesional normal tissues, AAV 2 was detected in 53 cases (57.6%), displaying 25% of CIN 1, 83.3% of CIN 11, 52% of CIN 111, and 65.2% of invasive cancer. Conclusion. The differences in AAV 2 prevalence are not significant between CIN and normal tissues. However, differences in HPV 16 are significant in CIN III and invasive cancer, as compared to CIN 1, CIN 11, and normal, suggesting no significant correlation between AAV 2 and cervical cancer. Thus, these results support the notion that AAV 2 is not associated with cervical tumorigenesis. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.