Favorable clinical outcome of cervical cancers infected with human papilloma virus type 58 and related types

To determine whether the status of human‐papillomavirus (HPV) infection affects the clinical outcome of cervical carcinoma (CC), HPV genotype was prospectively determined in 94 consecutive CC cases subsequently followed for a median duration of 37.5 months. With a consensus PCR‐RFLP method of HPV genotyping, 81 (86.2%) cancers were positive for HPV DNA. They were classified, according to the phylogenic similarities, into HPV‐16‐related (type 16, n = 45; type 31, n = 2), HPV‐58‐related (type 58, n = 17; type 33, n = 3; type 52, n = 2) and HPV‐18‐related (type 18, n = 8; type 68, n = 1) groups, and analyzed in relation to clinical outcome. The following results were observed: (i) Type‐58‐related HPVs were more prevalent in the old age (older than the median age of 52) group than in the young age group (41% vs. 14.6%, p = 0.045); (ii) 63% (5/8) of patients with advanced stages (III and IV) were HPV‐negative, a figure much higher than that (9.3%, 8/84) of patients with early stages (stage I and II) (p = 0.002); (iii) the occurrence of adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous carcinoma was higher in the HPV‐18‐related group (50%) than in the HPV‐16‐related (33.3%) or the HPV‐58‐related (16.7%) groups (p = 0.024); (iv) the status of lymph‐node metastasis and tumor grade did not correlate with HPV status; (v) 5‐year survival rates were 90.2%, 80% and 74% for HPV‐58‐, HPV‐16‐ and HPV‐18‐related groups, respectively (p = 0.03, after adjustment for tumor stage); (vi) in comparison with the HPV‐16‐related group, the relative risk of death in the HPV‐58‐ and the HPV‐18‐related groups were 0.32 [95% CI, 0.07–1.49] and 1.87 [0.36–14.9] respectively. HPV genotype appears to affect the clinical behavior and outcome of cervical cancer. HPV‐58‐related types are prevalent in the older population, and appear to confer a favorable prognosis. Int. J. Cancer (Pred. Oncol.) 84:553–557, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.