PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Tamy Tiemi Suehiro AU - Natália Malaguti AU - Edilson Damke AU - Nelson Shozo Uchimura AU - Fabrícia Gimenes AU - Raquel Pantarotto Souza AU - Vânia Ramos Sela da Silva AU - Marcia Edilaine Lopes Consolaro TI - Association of human papillomavirus and bacterial vaginosis with increased risk of high-grade squamous intraepithelial cervical lesions AID - 10.1136/ijgc-2018-000076 DP - 2019 Feb 01 TA - International Journal of Gynecologic Cancer PG - 242--249 VI - 29 IP - 2 4099 - http://ijgc.bmj.com/content/29/2/242.short 4100 - http://ijgc.bmj.com/content/29/2/242.full SO - Int J Gynecol Cancer2019 Feb 01; 29 AB - Objective To assess the rates of co-infections between human papillomavirus (HPV) and 13 key markers of bacterial vaginosis in cervical samples by multiplex polymerase chain reaction in a population with a high rate of abnormal cytology and a positive HPV test.Methods The study included a total of 213 women aged 18–72 years screened using Papanicolaou smears for determining cervical abnormalities and for HPV and bacterial vaginosis by single-target and multiplex polymerase chain reaction.Results A total of 83 (39%) women were negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy cytology and 130 (61%) had abnormal cytology. HPV-DNA prevalence was 69.9% and bacterial vaginosis was 72.7 %. Co-infections between bacterial vaginosis with HPV-DNA and high-risk HPV were associated with an increased risk for squamous intraepithelial lesions of low-grade cytology and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions plus cervical cancer. The most frequent bacterial vaginosis agent was Gardnerella vaginalis (33.8%), and co-infection with HPV-DNA and high-risk HPV increased the risk for squamous intraepithelial lesions of low grade cytology and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions plus cervical cancer. Co-infection between Megasphaera type I and high-risk HPV increased the risk for high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions plus cervical cancer.Conclusions Our results reinforce the hypothesis that some bacterial vaginosis agents may play a role as co-factors in HPV-mediated cervical carcinogenesis, at least in some populations.