Association of EBV and HPV co-infection with the development of cervical cancer in ethnic Uyghur women.

Objective: Study on the role of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the development of cervical cancer.

Methods: We collected 178 cases of cervical tissue specimens of Uyghur women with cervicitis, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN I, CIN II-III), and cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). EBV- and HPV-DNA were detected by PCR of tissue DNA. EBV protein expression was checked by immunohistochemistry.

Results: HPV-DNA was detectable in 2.5, 12.5, 68.0, and 96.4% of cases of cervicitis, CIN I, CIN II-III, and cervical cancer, respectively. For EBV-DNA, these numbers were 0, 3.1, 28.0, and 69.6%. There was a significant difference between the groups of cervicitis, CIN II-III, and cancer with respect to both HPV and EBV positivity rates (p < 0.05). Further analysis indicated that cervical lesion pathogenesis was not only accompanied by a gradually increasing rate of HPV or EBV-DNA alone, but also by an increasing rate of HPV-EBV dual infection (r = 0.46; p < 0.0 1). EBV protein expression was positive in 89.7% of EBV-DNA positive cases (34/39) and 6% of EBV-DNA negative cases (1/17).

Conclusions: Cervical cancer development and progression may be closely associated with the dual-infection by HPV and EBV.