Cervical and Oral Screening for HR-HPV types 16 and 18 among Sudanese Women Cervical Lesions

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether there is a positive correlation existed between cervical and oral High Risk-Human Papilloma Viruses (HR-HPV) types 16, 18 infections in patients with clinically confirmed cervical lesions. Methods: In this study 50 participants were included (40 were cases and 10 were controls). One hundred DNA materials (50 were cervical and 50 were oral epithelial tissues) were analyzed using HR-HPV subtypes 16 and 18 specific PCR probes. Results: Of the 40 cases, HR-HPV 16, 18 were identified in 16/40 (40%), of the cervical tissues of whom 8/16 (50%) were positive for HPV 16; 6/16 (37.5%) were identified with HR-HPV 18, and 2/16 (12.5%) were detected with both HR-HPV subtypes. All of the clinically healthy cases were found negative. Only one oral tissue sample (case) was 1/40 (2.5%) was found positive for HPV subtype16. Conclusion: The frequency of infection with HR-HPV subtypes 16 and 18 is high among Sudanese women with cervical lesions and suggests a role of HR-HPV in the development of cervical cancer in Sudan. No correlation between cervical and oral HPV infection was noted. Further study with screening of large number of patients with cervical cancer is recommended for further clarification of these findings.     

HLA-DPβ1 Asp84-Lys69 antigen-binding signature predicts event-free survival in childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: results from the MRC UKALL XI childhood ALL trial

We previously reported that children in the UKALL XI ALL trial with HLA-DP 1 and -DP 3 supertypes had significantly worse event-free survival (EFS) than children with other DP supertypes. As DP 1 and DP 3 share two of four key antigen-binding amino-acid polymorphisms (aspartic acid84-lysine69), we asked whether Asp84-Lys69 or Asp84 alone were independent prognostic indicators in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We analysed EFS in 798 UKALL XI patients, stratified by Asp84-Lys69 vs non-Asp84-Lys69, for a median follow-up of 12.5 years. Asp84-Lys69 was associated with a significantly worse EFS than non-Asp84-Lys69 (5-year EFS: Asp84-Lys69: 58.8% (95% CI (confidence of interval): 52.7-64.9%); non-Asp84-Lys69: 67.3% (63.4-71.2%); 2P=0.007). Post-relapse EFS was 10% less in Asp84-Lys69 than non-Asp84-Lys69 patients. EFS was significantly worse (P=0.03) and post-relapse EFS marginally worse (P=0.06) in patients with Asp84 compared with Gly84. These results suggest that Asp84-Lys69 predicted adverse EFS in the context of UKALL XI because of Asp84, and may have influenced post-relapse EFS. We speculate that this may be due to the recruitment of Asp84-Lys69-restricted regulatory T cells in the context of this regimen, leading to the re-emergence of residual disease. However, functional and molecular studies of the prognostic value of this and other HLA molecular signatures in other childhood ALL trials are needed.