Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotyping by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based genechip method and to determine the prognostic value of HPV genotype in bulky stage IB or IIA cervical carcinoma treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and radical surgery. A total of 149 patients had adequate tissue for the study. The SPF1/GP6+ primers were used to amplify a 184 bp fragment. The amplimers were submitted for direct sequencing and hybridization with a genechip using revert-blot detection of 39 types of HPV DNA in a single reaction. Two runs of PCR with respective hybridization were performed for each tumor. The complete concordance of HPV genotyping was 80.5% (120/149) of the paired genechip results. The kappa coefficient was 0.634 (P < 0.0001). HPV DNA sequences were detected in 100% of the specimens, among which 67.8% harbored single type and 32.2% contained multiple types. HPV-16 was detected in 98.7%, HPV-18 in 22.8%, HPV-31 in 0.7%, HPV-45 in 1.3%, HPV-52 in 2.0%, HPV-58 in 6.7%, HPV-59 in 4.7%, and HPV-67 in 0.7%. In multivariate analyses, the HPV genotype [HPV-18 or HPV-16 and HPV-18 only versus all others: relative risk (RR), 2.33; 95% CI, 1.17–4.64; P = 0.016] and pre-NAC tumor size (>5 versus ≤5 cm: RR, 2.25; 95% CI, 1.13–4.48; P = 0.021) were significantly related to overall survival. This PCR-based genechip method is sensitive and reproducible for HPV genotyping. The association of HPV-18 or HPV-16 and HPV-18 with poor outcome in cervical carcinoma treated with NAC plus radical surgery is confirmed.