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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: vir.0.010637-0v1 90/8/1986    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Waterboer, T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Waterboer, T. Agricola Articles by Waterboer, T.

Antibody responses to 26 skin human papillomavirus types in the Netherlands, Italy and Australia

Peter Sehr^1,

¹ Department of Genome Modifications and Carcinogenesis, Infections and Cancer Program, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
² Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Australia
³ DDL Diagnostic Laboratory, Voorburg, The Netherlands
⁴ Department of Medical Microbiology, Center of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
⁵ Institute of Virology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
⁶ Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata IDI-IRCCS, Rome, Italy
⁷ Department of Dermatology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

Correspondence
Tim Waterboer
t.waterboer{at}dkfz.de

Solar UV radiation is the main risk factor for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), but infections with skin human papillomavirus (HPV) types have also been linked to the development of SCC. Little is known about the natural history of these infections and whether the seroprevalence of skin HPV types is affected by ambient or individual levels of sun exposure. This study investigated this by analysing sera for antibodies to 26 skin HPV types from five phylogenetic genera obtained from 807 healthy individuals from the Netherlands, Italy and Australia, countries with strong differences in sunlight intensity. Overall HPV seroprevalence was similar across the three countries (50–57 % for β-HPV types, 40–48 % for -HPV types), and the most frequent β-HPV and -HPV types were the same in all countries. The highest seroprevalences for 24 of the 26 skin HPV types were observed in Italy (14 types) and Australia (ten types). Seroprevalence among men was generally higher than among women, and the male sex was significantly associated with both β-HPV [odds ratio (OR) 2.81, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.64–4.82] and -HPV (OR 2.42, 95 % CI 1.40–4.18) antibodies in Australia. The only measure of sun sensitivity or UV exposure significantly associated with skin HPV seroprevalence was found for weekend sun exposure in Australia and β-HPV antibodies. It was concluded that type spectra and HPV seroprevalence are similar in countries with different sunlight intensity, and that levels of UV exposure do not play a strong role in the development of skin HPV antibodies in this study population.

Present address: Joint DKFZ–EMBL Chemical Biology Core Facility, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany.

Members are listed in the Acknowledgements.