Human papillomavirus infection in perinatally HIV-infected adolescents in Asia

Project no.: HIV-NAT 185/TA008/HPV study

This is a longitudinal case-control study to monitor a cohort of perinatally HIV-infected and matched HIV-uninfected adolescent females and males between 12-24 years of age, for up to 156 weeks in three participating clinical sites in Thailand and two in Vietnam for HPV infection.

Brief Summary: Infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) may be higher in perinatally human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected (PHIV) than HIV-uninfected (HU) adolescents because of long-standing immune deficiency.

PHIV and HU females aged 12-24 years in Thailand and Vietnam were matched by age group and lifetime sexual partners. At enrollment, blood, cervical, vaginal, anal, and oral samples were obtained for HPV-related testing. The Wilcoxon and Fisher exact tests were used for univariate and logistic regression for multivariate analyses.

Ninety-three PHIV and 99 HU adolescents (median age 19 [18-20] years) were enrolled (June 2013-July 2015). Among PHIV, 94% were currently receiving antiretroviral therapy, median CD4 count was 593 (392-808) cells/mm3, and 62% had a viral load < 40 copies/mL. Across anogenital compartments, PHIV had higher rates of any HPV detected (80% vs 60%; P = 0.003) and any HR-HPV (60% vs 43%, P = 0.02). Higher proportions of PHIV had abnormal Pap smears (eg, atypical squamous cells of unknown significance [ASC-US], 12% vs 14%; low-grade squamous intraepithelial neoplastic lesions, 19% vs 1%). After adjusting for ever being pregnant and asymptomatic sexually transmitted infections (STI) at enrollment, PHIV were more likely to have HR-HPV than HU (odds ratio, 2.02; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-3.77; P = 0.03).

Perinatal HIV infection was associated with a higher risk of HR-HPV and abnormal cervical cytology. Our results underscore the need for HPV vaccination for PHIV adolescents and for prevention and screening programs for HPV and other STIs.

(Source: Sohn AH, et al., Clin Infect Dis. 2018 Aug 1;67(4):606-613)