PERSISTENCE OF HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS INFECTION IN HEALTHY SKIN OF INDIVIDUALS FROM ROSARIO CITY, ARGENTINA.

BOLATTI, ELISA M; CHOUHY, DIEGO; CASAL, PABLO E; STELLA, EMMA J; SANCHEZ, ADRIANA; FERNANDEZ BUSSY, RAMÓN; GIRI ADRIANA A

Trieste

Congreso; DNA Tumour Virus Meeting; 2015

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotecnology (ICGEB)

Papillomaviruses(PV) are small and non-enveloped viruses that infect mucosal and cutaneousepithelia of vertebrates. More than 200 PV types that infect humans (HPV) havebeen described and divided into 5 genera (α, β, γ, η, and µ) according to theirphylogenetic relationships. Cutaneous HPV are genetically more heterogeneousthan mucosal types and little is understood about its epidemiology.We analyzed thepersistence of HPV infection according to UV exposure in sun-exposed skin areas(forehead) of 78 healthy individuals (mean age: 39 years, range: 23-63 years;55 women and 23 men) during 1 year. Three swabs samples were collected fromeach volunteer (Total: 234 samples): spring, summer, and winter. The presenceand types of HPV were analyzed using ?hanging-droplet? PCR with 2 primersystems (FAP and CUT-EXTED) and sequencing. Only 8/78 volunteers were negativefor the HPV infection during the study, while most (90%, 70/78) were positivefor HPV in at least one of the samples. Among HPV-infected individuals, 27(35%) were harboring HPV DNA in a single sample, 23 (29%) in two samples, and20 (26%) in all samples. Mean age was significantly higher (p = 0.0087)in those individuals with persistent infections in at least two samples (55%,43/78). The highest frequency of HPV infection was found at spring (67%, 52/78),with lower and similar rates of infection at summer (51%, 40/78) and winter(54%, 42/78). These results reinforce the link of HPV infection in skin and thehighest exposure to UV radiation due to the ozone hole passing over Argentinafrom September to October.Prelimminaryresults of type-specific infections indicated that viruses grouped in the genusb-PV were the most frequentlyfound in all samples taken during the study, followed by types belonging to g-PV and a-PV genera.Persistent infections with the same type were identified in 15 individuals,mainly due to types/putative types of b-1 (types 5, 19,20, 21, 24, 25, 93, HPV-RTRX7), b-2 (types 37,111,174, FA114), b-3 (HPV-75), and g-8 (FAIMVS9). Using ?hanging-droplet? long PCR assay, the full-lengthgenome of a γ-PV putative type was amplified. Novel putative type EP1 showed85% nucleotide identities in the L1 ORF to the HPV-173 (γ-1). These resultshighlight the diverse populations of types infecting healthy human skin withoutinducing tissue damage, and expand our knowledge about diversity and evolutionof the family Papillomaviridae.