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Cited by 34Cervical Cancer and HPV ResearchReproductive tract infections researchWomen's cancer prevention and management

Significance of the viral load of high-risk HPV in the diagnosis and prediction of cervical lesions: a retrospective study

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Liu, Yang, Xu, Changjun, Pan, Jing, Sun, Chunyi, Zhou, Honglin, Meng, Yushi·2021·BMC Women's Health
DOI 10.1186/s12905-021-01493-0PMC PMC8501737

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Abstract

Background: The significance of HPV viral load in the detection of cervical lesions is still controversial. This study analyzed the correlation between the high-risk HPV viral load and different cervical lesion degrees. Methods: This retrospective study included women positive for high-risk HPV DNA and screened for cervical lesions between 01/2015 and 06/2018. The high-risk HPV DNA load was measured by the second-generation Hybrid Capture technology and classified as low, moderate, and high. Colposcopy and biopsy were performed in all patients. The patients were grouped as normal, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 1, CIN grade 2, CIN grade 3, and cervical cancer. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to explore the association between high-risk HPV DNA load and cervical lesions. The odds ratios (ORs) represent the odds for increasing from low to high viral load. Results: Finally, 265 patients were grouped as normal (n = 125), CIN 1 (n = 51), CIN 2 (n = 23), CIN 3 (n = 46), and cervical cancer (n = 20). Among them, 139 (52.5%) had a low viral load, 90 (34.0) had a moderate viral load, and 36 (13.4%) had a high viral load. Taking the normal control group as a reference, a high viral load was an independent factor for CIN 1 (OR = 3.568, 95% CI: 1.164–10.941, P = 0.026), CIN 2 (OR = 6.939, 95% CI: 1.793–26.852, P = 0.005), CIN 3 (OR = 7.052, 95% CI: 2.304–21.586, P = 0.001), and cervical cancer (OR = 8.266, 95% CI: 2.120–32.233, P = 0.002). Conclusions: Among women who underwent cervical biopsy, higher high-risk HPV viral load in cervical lesions was associated with a higher risk of high-grade cervical lesions.

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  • The prognostic significance of HR-HPV viral load in cervical cancer remains controversial.

    “The prognostic significance of HR-HPV viral load in cervical cancer remains controversial.”

    From Comparative evaluation of Allplex HPV28 and Anyplex II HPV28 assays for high-risk HPV genotyping in cervical samples (2025) · cites this paper as [13]

    The Background and Discussion state that the significance of HR-HPV viral load for detecting and predicting cervical lesions remains controversial, and the Discussion describes conflicting findings concerning cervical cancer risk. They do not establish that its prognostic significance for patients who already have cervical cancer—for example, predicting their outcomes—is controversial. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Previous studies have reported an association between increased HR-HPV viral load and the severity and progression of cervical lesions.

    “Previous studies have reported an association between increased HR-HPV viral load and the severity and progression of cervical lesions [13,14]”

    From Comparative evaluation of Allplex HPV28 and Anyplex II HPV28 assays for high-risk HPV genotyping in cervical samples (2025) · cites this paper as [13]

    The Discussion (page not available) reports that higher high-risk HPV viral load was associated with more advanced cervical lesions, and the Background describes previous studies reporting associations with lesion severity. The paper does not establish that higher viral load is associated with lesions progressing over time; its methods compare biopsy-defined lesion grades rather than tracking progression. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Liu, Y., Xu, C., Pan, J., Sun, C., Zhou, H., & Meng, Y.
Affiliations
  • Kunming Medical University (CN)
  • Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Zhou, Honglin
  • Meng, Yushi
ORCID
Venue
BMC Women's Health
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2021-10-08
Volume
21
Issue
1
Pages
353-353
ISSN
1472-6874 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12905-021-01493-0
PMC
PMC8501737
OpenAlex
W3116473253
Cited by
34
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 1
FWCI
2.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Women s Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (81860515)
  • Health Science and Technology Plan Project of Yunnan (2016NS287, 2017NS277)
  • Yunnan Health Training Project of High Level Talents (H-201629)
  • Applied Basic Research Joint Special Fund Project of Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department-Kunming Medical University (2018FE001, 2018FE055)
  • Yunnan Ten Thousand Youth Talent Program ([2018]73)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Cervical Cancer and HPV Research
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Reproductive tract infections research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Women's cancer prevention and management
Keywords
high-risk HPV, HPV viral load, cervical lesions, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, cervical cancer, Hybrid Capture 2, colposcopy, cervical biopsy, cervical cancer screening
MeSH terms
Uterine Cervical Dysplasia, Uterine Cervical Neoplasms, Female, Humans, Retrospective Studies, Viral Load, Papillomavirus Infections

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