Detection and genotyping of human papillomavirus in cervical samples from italian patients.

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are etiological
agents of cervical cancer. In order to assess the
epidemiological incidence and frequency of different
HPV types, we applied a polymerase chain
reaction (PCR)-direct sequencing approach based
on the use of MY09/MY11 primers as compared
to Hybrid Capture assay. Cervical samples were
taken from 1,500 women, both with normal and
abnormal cytological smears, and we found an
incidence of 6.6% of HPV infection in Brescia.
Overall, 97 samples tested HPV-positive, yielding
18 HPV types. The four most frequent HPV types
were: HPV 16, -31, -6, and -58. This approach
could be used in ordinary laboratory settings for
quick and reliable typing of known and novel
HPVs from clinical specimens and it could also
be applied to anti-cancer vaccine development.