Human Papillomavirus Prevalence and Genotype Distribution in Normal and ASCUS Specimens

High-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes are strongly associated with cervical cancer, whereas other HPV genotypes are not. To identify the various HPV genotypes in clinical samples, we conducted HPV genotyping using a DNA chip test and reverse blot hybridization assay (REBA) in normal cytology samples and atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) cytology samples. We also investigated the HPV infection rate and HPV genotype prevalence in women with normal cytology and ASCUS cytology. Liquid-based cytology preparations were used for the initial screening of 205 subjects with normal cytology and ASCUS cytology. The HPV infection rate was 49.8% when using the DNA chip assay and 61.0% when using the REBA test. In patients with normal cytology, the HR-HPV positive rate was 21.9% with the DNA chip assay and 43.9% with the REBA test. In contrast, 8.3% of patients with ASCUS were HR-HPV positive when using the DNA chip assay, and 13.6% were positive when tested with the REBA test. The infection rate of HR-HPV in the 40~50-year age group was significantly higher than that of the other age groups. Based on the cytological analysis of the normal and ASCUS samples, the five most prominent HPV genotypes were HPV 16, 18, 68, 33, and 58 using the DNA chip test, and they were HPV 16, 18, 53, 33, and 66 when using the REBA test. In conclusion, the findings show that the results of the REBA test are comparable to those of the DNA chip test. Most strikingly, the REBA test detected the HR-HPV genotype associated with cervical carcinoma similar to that detected with the DNA chip method. Therefore, the REBA test is a useful method to detect clinically important HR-HPV genotypes.