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Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical neoplasia. Because few population-based studies have investigated the prevalence of type-specific infection in relation to cervical disease, we studied a high-risk population, estimating the prevalence of HPV infection and the risk associated with various HPV types.Methods: We screened 9175 women in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, to obtain a referent standard final diagnosis, and tested 3024 women for more than 40 types of HPV with a polymerase chain reaction-based system.Results: Among women with normal cytology, HPV infections peaked first in women younger than 25 years, and they peaked again at age 55 years or older with predominantly non-cancer-associated types of HPV and uncharacterized HPV types. Low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSILs) (n = 189) decreased consistently with age. The prevalence of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs) (n = 128) peaked first around age 30 years and again at age 65 years or older. Seventy-three percent of LSILs were HPV positive, with HPV16 being the predominant type (16% of positive subjects). HPV was found in 89% of HSILs and 88% of cancers, with HPV16 being strongly predominant (51% and 53% of positive subjects). Virtually all HSILs and cancers had cancer-associated HPV types, with high odds ratios (ORs) and attributable fractions around 80%. Risk for HPV16 was particularly high (OR for HSILs = 320, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 97-1000; OR for cancer = 710, 95% CI = 110-4500).Conclusions: We confirm the early decline of HPV infection with age but note increased prevalence after menopause, which could be related to a second peak of HSILs, an observation that warrants further investigation. At least 80% of HPVs involved in cervical carcinogenesis in this population have been characterized. Polyvalent vaccines including the main cancer-associated HPV types may be able to prevent most cases of cervical disease in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Progression from infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) to cervical cancer in some women is thought to involve a permissive host environment, one in which immune response is mobilized in an inappropriate manner. In a previous study (A. Hildesheim et al., Cancer Epidemiol. Biomark. Prev., 6: 807-813, 1997), increasing levels of soluble interleukin 2 receptor (sIL-2R), a known proxy for general immune activation, was found to be positively associated with increasing levels of cervical neoplasia. We attempted to confirm this finding by conducting a nested case-control study of 478 women within a 10,000-woman population-based cohort in Costa Rica. We selected for the study all of the women diagnosed (at enrollment into the cohort) with: (a) low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL, n = 191); (b) high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL, n = 130); or (c) cancer (n = 37). Controls were 120 cytologically normal, HPV-negative women selected from a random sample of the entire cohort. A questionnaire was administered to participants to elicit information on cervical cancer risk factors. All of the women received a pelvic examination during which cervical cells were collected and used for HPV DNA testing by PCR. Blood samples were also collected. Plasma obtained from the blood samples was tested for sIL-2R levels by ELISA. Results indicated that sIL-2R levels increased with age. Among controls, we observed that 44.3% of women over the age of 50 had high levels of sIL-2R (defined as >735 units/ml) compared with 15.8% of women <30 years of age (P = 0.008). When women with cervical disease (LSIL+) were compared with controls, women in the upper quartile of the sIL-2R distribution had an age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 2.1 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.1-4.1]. Comparing each advancing state of neoplasia with its precursor, we found that women with LSIL had higher sIL-2R levels than controls (OR for upper quartile of sIL-2R, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.1-5.2; comparing LSIL cases with controls); women diagnosed with HSIL were similar to the LSIL group (OR for upper quartile of sIL-2R, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.5-2.4; comparing HSIL cases with LSIL cases); and those with cancer had higher sIL-2R levels than subjects with an HSIL diagnosis (OR for upper quartile of sIL-2R = 1.8; 95% CI, 0.5-7.1; comparing cancer cases with HSIL cases). These data suggest that among our study subjects, sIL-2R levels most likely rise as a response to the events of infection and cancerous invasion, but that sIL-2R levels are unlikely to be predictive of disease progression among women with LSIL.

Background: Automated cytology devices have utility in quality assurance applications, but the effectiveness of these devices in primary screening is unknown., Methods: Enrollment smears obtained from 7323 women participating in a population-based study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute were screened manually in Costa Rica and then evaluated independently in the U.S. with the PAPNET system (Neuromedical Systems, Inc., Suffern, NY), a semiautomated, neural network-based device. Smears with abnormal PAPNET images were microscopically rescreened and then diagnosed by a U.S. cytopathologist. ThinPrep slides (Cytyc Corporation, Boxborough, MA), prepared from rinses of the cytologic sampler, and cervigrams (National Testing Laboratories, Fenton, MO) were also evaluated. Women with any abnormal cytologic diagnosis or a positive cervigram were referred for colposcopy with biopsy and definitive therapy if indicated., Results: Based on the U.S. cytotechnologist's review of the PAPNET images, 1017 (13.9%) of 7323 smears were selected for manual screening, resulting in the selection of 492 (6.7%) possibly abnormal slides for referral to the U.S. pathologist. Ultimately, 312 smears (4.3% of the total) were diagnosed as containing squamous cells of undetermined significance or a more severe abnormality (> or =ASCUS), resulting, hypothetically, in the referral of 66.5% of women with a final diagnosis of a squamous intraepithelial lesion or a more severe abnormality (> or =SIL) and 86.0% of patients with > or =high grade SIL. Conventional microscopic screening performed in Costa Rica resulted in the hypothetical referral of 6.5% of patients with > or =ASCUS for colposcopy, including 69.5% of patients with > or =SIL and 79.8% of those with > or =high grade SIL., Conclusions: In this study, PAPNET-assisted cytologic screening accurately identified smears obtained from women with high grade SIL or carcinoma. Determination of the clinical cost-effectiveness of PAPNET-assisted screening in routine practice awaits future study.

This paper reports on the enrollment phase of a population-based natural history study of cervical neoplasia in Guanacaste, a rural province of Costa Rica with consistently high rates of invasive cervical cancer. The main goals of the study are to investigate the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and its co-factors in the etiology of high-grade cervical neoplasia, and to evaluate new cervical cancer screening technologies. To begin, a random sample of censal segments was selected and enumeration of all resident women 18 years of age and over was conducted with the aid of outreach workers of the Costa Rican Ministry of Health. Of the 10738 women who were eligible to participate, 10049 (93.6%) were interviewed after giving written informed consent. After the interview on cervical cancer risk factors was administered, a pelvic examination was performed on those women who reported previous sexual activity. The pelvic examination included a vaginal pH determination and collection of cervical cells for cytologic diagnosis using three different techniques. Additional cervical cells were collected for determination of the presence and amount of DNA from 16 different types of HPV, and two photographic images of the cervix were taken and interpreted offsite by an expert colposcopist. Finally, blood samples were collected for immunologic and micronutrient assays. Women with any abnormal cytologic diagnosis or a positive Cervigram, as well as a sample of the whole group, were referred for colposcopy, and biopsies were taken when lesions were observed. The enrollment screening will serve as the basis for a prevalent case-control study, and the members of the cohort free from serious disease will be followed actively, at intervals of no more than a year, to study the natural history of HPV infection and the origins of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL). Details of the field operation are outlined, with particular reference to the realization of this kind of study in developing countries. Descriptive data on the prevalence of disease and exposure to various risk factors are also presented.

Background: Several new techniques have been developed to improve the sensitivity of cervical carcinoma screening and reduce equivocal cytologic diagnoses referred to as atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS). This study evaluates the effectiveness of combining two newly introduced diagnostic techniques: preparation of thin-layer cytologic slides from ThinPrep liquid buffer and selected Hybrid Capture testing for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA. Because HPV DNA detection has been strongly associated with the presence of a cervical carcinoma precursor ("squamous intraepithelial lesion," or SIL), HPV testing might be useful for identifying women with ASCUS who have an underlying SIL., Methods: Two hundred specimens demonstrating diverse cervical abnormalities were selected from a prospective population-based study of 9174 women conducted in Costa Rica. The entire cohort had been screened with conventional cervical smears; ThinPrep slides made from liquid buffer, PAPNET, a computerized slide reading system; and Cervicography. Patients with any abnormal screening test were referred for colposcopy, punch biopsy, and loop excision of cases with high grade cytologic abnormalities not explained by punch biopsy. For this investigation, the results of ThinPrep cytology and HPV testing alone and in combination were compared with the final diagnoses, with an emphasis on the detection of carcinoma and high grade SIL., Results: The 200 subjects studied included 7 women with a final diagnosis of carcinoma, 44 with high grade SIL, 34 with low grade SIL, 51 with a variety of equivocal diagnoses, and 64 with normal diagnoses. A ThinPrep cytologic diagnosis of SIL or carcinoma was made in 39 (76%) of the 51 women with final diagnoses of high grade SIL or carcinoma. Hybrid Capture testing detected carcinoma-associated types of HPV DNA in 100% of women with carcinoma, 75% with high grade SIL, 62% with low grade SIL, 20% with equivocal final diagnoses, and 12% of normal women. If colposcopy referral had been limited to women with a ThinPrep diagnosis of SIL or a diagnosis of ASCUS associated with the detection of carcinoma-associated HPV DNA from the same vial, 100% of women with carcinoma and 80% with high grade SIL would have been examined. To achieve this high sensitivity in the entire population of 9174 women would have required the referral of about 7% of the population. The combined screening strategy would have performed marginally better than optimized conventional screening with referral of any abnormal cytology (ASCUS and above)., Conclusions: A cervical carcinoma screening technique which uses a single sample for cytopathology and HPV testing to triage equivocal diagnoses may be promising if it proves to be cost-effective.