Serologic response to human papillomavirus type 16 virus-like particles in Korean women with cervical precancerous and cancerous lesions

The aim of the study was to investigate the seroprevalence to HPV type 16 in Korean women with precancerous and cancerous lesions of the uterine cervix. The cases were 173 Korean women of whom 130 had high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN), 43 cervical carcinomas and the control group was 106 women showing normal cervical cytology. Serologic assays were performed using HPV-16 VLPs as antigen in an ELISA. Specific antibodies against HPV-16 VLP were detected in 59.2% (77/130) of the patients with high-grade CIN, in 67.4% (29/43) of the patients with cervical cancer and in 20.8% (22/106) of control subjects. No difference of serologic response was found between high-grade CIN and cancer. HPV-16 seropositivity showed the significant association with patients' age and preoperative HPV DNA infection. Recurrence of high-grade CIN was not affected by the VLP-16 seropositivity. Recurrence of carcinoma showed the borderline association with HPV-16 seropositivity (P=0.06). The association between the cancer recurrence and seropositivity was not found in the logistic regression analysis. Two patients dying of cancer during the follow-up period were both seronegative (P=0.01). In conclusion, serologic testing for HPV-16 VLP antibody provides a disease indicator of cervical lesions and potential prognostic parameter of cervical carcinoma.