Candidate human papillomavirus (HPV) type 27b: Nucleotide sequence and heterogeneity with HPV 27

HPV Infections-Classification, Pathogenesis, and Potential New Therapies

To date, more than 400 types of human papillomavirus (HPV) have been identified. Despite the creation of effective prophylactic vaccines against the most common genital HPVs, the viruses remain among the most prevalent pathogens found in humans. According to WHO data, they are the cause of 5% of all cancers. Even more frequent are persistent and recurrent benign lesions such as genital and common warts. HPVs are resistant to many disinfectants and relatively unsusceptible to external conditions. There is still no drug available to inhibit viral replication, and treatment is based on removing lesions or stimulating the host immune system. This paper presents the systematics of HPV and the differences in HPV structure between different genetic types, lineages, and sublineages, based on the literature and GenBank data. We also present the pathogenesis of diseases caused by HPV, with a special focus on the role played by E6, E7, and other viral proteins in the development of benign and cancerous lesions. We discuss further prospects for the treatment of HPV infections, including, among others, substances that block the entry of HPV into cells, inhibitors of viral early proteins, and some substances of plant origin that inhibit viral replication, as well as new possibilities for therapeutic vaccines.

Molecular epidemiological study on prevalence of human papillomaviruses in patients with common warts in Beijing area

OBJECTIVE

To study the circulation, distribution, and genomic diversity of HPVs in common warts in Beijing area of China.

METHODS

Forty eight patients with pathologically diagnosed common warts were screened for the presence of HPV with HPV type-specific PCR and direct sequencing analysis. The genomic diversity of HPVs prevalent in Chinese patients was analyzed based on LCR.

RESULTS

Forty one (85.5%) samples were positive for HPV DNA, 13 (31.7%)--HPV-57, 12 (29.3%)--HPV-1a, 7 (17%)--HPV-27 and 5(12.2%)--HPV-2a. Four cases were infected with two different HPV types, two (4.9%) with HPV-1a and HPV-27, one (2.4%) with HPV-1 and HPV-57 and one (2.4%) with HPV-27 and HPV-57. In contrast to the prevalence of single strain of novel HPV-57 variant and HPV-1 prototype, two HPV-2 and three HPV-27 novel variants were found to circulate in Beijing.

CONCLUSION

HPV-1, -2, -27 and -57 are predominantly prevalent in patients with common warts in Beijing.

Human papillomavirus subtypes are not uncommon

While both variants and types of human papillomavirus (HPV) are common, subtypes (2-10% sequence divergence in the L1 gene) have been considered to be rare. We searched GenBank and in-house databases using a 440 nt L1 fragment and identified 7, 30 and 10 subtypes/putative subtypes in the HPV genera Alpha, Beta and Gamma, respectively. The number of types/putative types in each genus was 54, 58 and 103. Thus, there appears to exist at least 47 different subtypes/putative subtypes of HPV and they seem to be particularly common in the genus Beta-papillomavirus.