The Detection of Human Papillomavirus 16 and 18 Type L1 Capsid Protein in Cervical Lesion Specimens Among Mongolian Women

Abstract

Objectives: The goal of this study is to evaluate expression of the HPV16/18 L1 in cervical tissues in correlation with lesion grade. Methods:A total of 96 specimens were analyzed in this study. There were 50 cases diagnosed as low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) and 46 cases diagnosed as high-grade (H-) SIL. All cases were submitted for immunohistochemistry with anti-HPV16 /18 L1 antibody. Results: The positive rate of HPV16 L1 and HPV18 L1 was identified in 61 (64%) and 21 (22%) of all cases. There was a statistically significant difference for HPV18 (X2 = 0.599, p<0.05), but not for HPV16 (X2 = 0.024, p>0.05) in the two SIL groups. In addition, 27 cases had no HPV16/18 L1 expression and 13 cases had HPV16/18 L1 co-expression. Conclusion: Lack of HPV L1 capsid protein in cervical lesions may serve as a prognostic marker of enhanced malignant potential. There is still a critical need to find other molecular surrogate markers, which can provide accurate information about which precursor lesions would progress toward cancer.