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Intratypic DNA polymorphism has been described for human papillomavirus (HPV) types infecting Inuit women in Nunavik, Quebec, a high-risk population for HPV infection and cervical cancer, but there is no previous research on the association between HPV polymorphism and infection persistence in Inuit women. Polymorphism of HPV types 16, 18 and 52 was described in a subset of 64 participants with multiple clinic visits within a cohort of 677 Nunavik Inuit women aged 15-69 recruited in 2002-2010 with testing results. Logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between HPV variants and infection persistence and clearance. Infections with HPV16 lineage A3 variants cleared 3.13 times faster (95% CI: 1.10-8.97) than those with lineage A1 variants. HPV52 lineage C variants cleared slower than lineage A variants (HR = 0.28, 95% CI: 0.08-0.98). HPV polymorphism may be associated with viral persistence for certain HPV types in this population.

Background: Inuit communities in northern Quebec have high rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, cervical cancer and cervical cancer-related mortality as compared to the Canadian population. HPV types can be further classified as intratypic variants based on the extent of homology in their nucleotide sequences. There is limited information on the distribution of intratypic variants in circumpolar areas., Objective: Our goal was to describe the HPV intratypic variants and associated baseline characteristics., Design: We collected cervical cell samples in 2002-2006 from 676 Inuit women between the ages of 15 and 69 years in Nunavik. DNA isolates from high-risk HPVs were sequenced to determine the intratypic variant., Results: There were 149 women that were positive for HPVs 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 45, 52, 56 or 58 during follow-up. There were 5 different HPV16 variants, all of European lineage, among the 57 women positive for this type. There were 8 different variants of HPV18 present and all were of European lineage (n=21). The majority of samples of HPV31 (n=52) were of lineage B. The number of isolates and diversity of the other HPV types was low. Age was the only covariate associated with HPV16 variant category., Conclusions: These frequencies are similar to what was seen in another circumpolar region of Canada, although there appears to be less diversity as only European variants were detected. This study shows that most variants were clustered in one lineage for each HPV type.