Impact of HPV-16 lineages infection on response to radio-chemotherapy in cervical cancer

Aim Estimate the frequency of Human papilloma virus (HPV) 16 lineages in specimens of cervical cancer, relate the pathological factors in those variants and assess the response to treatment with radical chemoradiotherapy. Methods Samples of cervical cancer were collected from women referred to reference cancer hospital to test the presence of Human papilloma virus types DNA. The standard protocol of the service consisted of cisplatin based chemotherapy 40 mg/m² plus conventional pelvic irradiation in the dosis of 45-50.4 Gy and high dose rate brachytherapy of 28–30 Gy to Point A. The response to chemotherapy was avaliated after three months in those patients with HPV − 16 lineage. Results HPV DNA was detected in out 104 (88.1%) of the 118 patients. HPV-16 present in 63 patients (53%). Lineages of HPV 16 identified in 57 patients being: 33 (57.8%) lineage A, 2 lineage B (3.5%), 2 lineage C (3.5%) and 20 (35.0%) lineage D. The median age of the patients was 48.4 years (range 25–85 years). Squamous cell carcinoma was detected 48 times (84.2%). Adenocarcinoma were more likely to occur in lineage D, as three of the four cases occurred in this lineage. A total of 11patientes with HPV-16 variant were treated with chemoradiotherapy. After three months, was observed that nine of the eleven patients (81.8%) achieved complete response: five of the lineage A, two of the lineage C and two of the lineage D. The cases of partial response and progression of disease, one each, occurred in the lineage A. Conclusion Besides the small number of patients and HPV variants, we notice better response in patients with HPV 16 lineage A. Increasing the sample could be helpful to better associate the impact of HPV variants on cervical cancer treatment.