Search

Objectives: Recently, three large Chinese cohort studies showed that 7.5% to 15.5% of patients with cervical carcinoma had negative high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) test results on prior cytology specimens. These studies raise the question as to whether these negative hrHPV results represent truly hrHPV-negative carcinomas or false-negative hrHPV test results due to limitations in the testing of cytology specimens. This is increasingly an important question with increasing push to use hrHPV testing alone to screen for cervical cancer.Methods: We investigated the hrHPV status on the surgical specimens from these same patients with cervical carcinoma using three polymerase chain reaction methods and a linear assay genotyping method.Results: A variety of HPV genotypes were detected in 28 (45.9%) of 61 cases, all belonging to carcinogenic or possibly carcinogenic categories. HPV 16 was the most common genotype detected in positive cases (66.7%). HPV was detected in 25 (50%) of 50 squamous cell carcinomas and two (66.7%) of three adenosquamous carcinomas and only one (12.5%) of eight endocervical adenocarcinomas.Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that negative hrHPV testing on cervicovaginal cytology specimens in women later diagnosed with cervical carcinoma can be explained by the occurrence of truly HPV-negative carcinomas in more than half of patients. These results should be considered in the development of future cervical cancer screening guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded small RNAs (EBERs) are the most highly expressed transcripts in all EBV-associated tumors and are involved in both lymphoid and epithelioid carcinogenesis. Our previous study on Chinese isolates from non-endemic area of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) identified new EBER variants (EB-8m and EB-10m) which were less common but relatively more frequent in NPC cases than healthy donors. In the present study, we determined the EBER variants in NPC cases and healthy donors from endemic and non-endemic areas of NPC within China and compared the EBER variants, in relation to the genotypes at BamHI F region (prototype F and f variant), between population groups and between two areas. According to the phylogenetic tree, four EBER variants (EB-6m, EB-8m, EB-10m and B95-8) were identified. EB-6m was dominant in all population groups except for endemic NPC group, in which EB-8m was dominant. EB-8m was more common in endemic NPC cases (82.0%, 41/50) than non-endemic NPC cases (33.7%, 32/95) (p<0.0001), and it was also more frequent in healthy donors from endemic area (32.4%, 24/74) than healthy donors from non-endemic area (1.1%, 1/92) (p<0.0001). More importantly, the EB-8m was more prevalent in NPC cases than healthy donors in both areas (p<0.0001). The f variant, which has been suggested to associate with endemic NPC, demonstrated preferential linkage with EB-8m in endemic isolates, however, the EB-8m variant seemed to be more specific to NPC isolates than f variant. These results reveal high prevalence of EBER EB-8m variant in endemic NPC cases, suggesting an association between NPC development and EBV isolates carrying EB-8m variant. Our finding identified a small healthy population group that shares the same viral strain which predominates in NPC cases. It could be interesting to carry extensive cohort studies following these individuals to evaluate the risk to develop NPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To characterize the specific Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) polymorphisms from nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients and healthy donors in Northern China, and to explore the relationship between the EBV genotypes and NPC. Methods: The genotypes of EBV strains were analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. Results: The predominant EBV type was A, C or F in both NPC and healthy individuals. The distributions of the EBV subtypes between NPC and healthy donors were not significantly different (p > 0.05). The frequency of type f strains in NPC was significantly lower in Northern China than in Southern China. Conclusions: No evidence of special EBV genotypes associated with NPC was found, suggesting that EBV strains derived from the NPC patients may reflect geographic distribution rather than being NPC restricted. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]