Preliminary study on human papillomavirus frequency and specific type-distribution in vulva cancer from Thai women

Vulvar cancer incidence and net survival in Sweden 1960 to 2019: A population-based national study

INTRODUCTION

Vulvar cancer is a rare gynecological cancer affecting mostly older women. The aim of this population-based study was to investigate the incidence and net survival of vulvar cancer in Swedish women from 1960 to 2019.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Data were retrieved from the mandatory Swedish Cancer Registry consisting of all women diagnosed with vulvar cancer between 1960 and 2019. Only women with a morphologically verified diagnosis of vulvar cancer were included. The individuals were then further matched with the Swedish Death Registry up until May 31, 2020.

RESULTS

In total, 8499 women were included with the following morphologies: squamous cell carcinoma 7250 (85.8%), malignant melanoma 539 (6.4%), adenocarcinoma 401 (4.8%) and other: 259 (3.1%). More than 50% of vulvar cancer cases occurred in women aged between 65 and 84 years of age. The 5-year age-standardized net survival increased from 53.0% (95% confidence interval [CI] 48.9-57.5) in 1960 to 72.1% (95% CI 68.8-75.5) in 2019. The proportion of adenocarcinoma among all cases increased from 2.0% to 8.7% between the 1960s and 2010s and an increase in age-standardized 5-year net survival was found for adenocarcinoma.

CONCLUSIONS

The age-standardized incidence of vulvar cancer cases in Sweden was stable between 1960 and 2019. During the study period, an increase in adenocarcinoma and a decrease in malignant melanoma cases was found. Five-year net survival increased by 20 percent units during the study period. For squamous cell carcinoma, an increased age-specific 5-year net survival was observed for all age groups, apart for women aged ≥85.

Detection and Type-Distribution of Human Papillomavirus in Vulva and Vaginal Abnormal Cytology Lesions and Cancer Tissues from Thai Women

Vulva and Vaginal cancers are rare among all gynecological cancers worldwide, including Thailand, and typically affect women in later life. Persistent high risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection is one of several important causes of cancer development. In this study, we focused on HPV investigation and specific type distribution from Thai women with abnormality lesions and cancers of the vulva and Vaginal. A total of ninety paraffin-embedded samples of vulva and Vaginal abnormalities and cancer cells with histologically confirmed were collected from Thai women, who were diagnosed in 2003-2012 at the National Cancer Institute, Thailand. HPV DNA was detected and genotyped using polymerase chain reaction and enzyme immunoassay with GP5+/ bio 6+ consensus specific primers and digoxigenin-labeled specific oligoprobes, respectively. The human β-globin gene was used as an internal control. Overall results represented that HPV frequency was 16/34 (47.1%) and 8/20 (40.0%) samples of vulva with cancer and abnormal cytology lesions, respectively, while, 3/5 (60%) and 16/33 (51.61%) samples of Vaginal cancer and abnormal cytology lesions, respectively, were HPV DNA positive. Single HPV type and multiple HPV type infection could be observed in both type of cancers and abnormal lesion samples in the different histological categorizes. HPV16 was the most frequent type in all cancers and abnormal cytology lesions, whereas HPV 18 was less frequent and could be detected as co-infection with other high risk HPV types. In addition, low risk types such as HPV 6, 11 and 70 could be detected in Vulva cancer and abnormal cytology lesion samples, whereas, all Vaginal cancer samples exhibited only high risk HPV types; HPV 16 and 31. In conclusion, from our results in this study we suggest that women with persistent high risk HPV type infection are at risk of developing vulva and Vaginal cancers and HPV 16 was observed at the highest frequent both of these, similar to the cervical cancer cases. Although the number of samples in this study was limited and might not represent the overall incidence and prevalence in Thai women, but the baseline data are of interest and suggest further study for primary cancer screening and/or developing the efficiency of prophylactic HPV vaccines in Thailand.

Diagnostic Difficulties in Pathological Laboratories in Developing Countries: A Case Report of Differentiated Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a Young Togolese Woman

We report a case of poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva induced by human papillomavirus in a 23-year-old woman, in whom we experienced diagnostic difficulties.

Prevalence of high risk human papillomavirus infection with different cervical cytological features among women undergoing health examination at the National Cancer Institute, Thailand

High-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) testing is important in cervical cancer screening for triage colposcopy. The objective of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of HR HPV infection with different cervical cytological features among women undergoing health examination. A total of 2,897 women were retrospectively evaluated between May 2011 to December 2011. DNA was extracted from residual specimens collected during routine liquid-based cytology tests at the National Cancer Institute. Overall, HR HPV prevalence was 9.3% including 1.6% of HPV-16 and 0.4% of HPV-18. Of all 270 HPV positive samples, 211 (78.1% were HR-HPV non 16/18; 47 (17.4%) were HPV-16 and 12 (4.4%) were HPV-18. The prevalence of HPV infection was similar in all age groups, although a higher rate was observed in women age 31-40 years. Among women with normal cytology, HR HPV positive were found in 6.7%. In abnormal cytology, HR HPV were found 46.7% in atypical squamous cells (ASC), 54.8% in low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) and 80.0% in high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL). HPV-16 was detected in 8.6%, 6.4% and 12.0% of ASC, LSIL and HSIL, respectively. The results of this study provide baseline information on the HPV type distribution, which may be useful for clinicians to decide who should be monitored or treated more aggressively.