A comparative study of the genotype profiles of high-risk human papillomavirus infection in male and female HIV-positive patients and their correlation with anal cytology and biopsy.

Abstract Introduction Although anal cancer is more common in women, most of the studies on the role of high risk HPV (hrHPV) infection in anal squamous lesions have focused on high risk male patients. Therefore, we compared the genotype profile and clinicopathological correlation of hrHPV infection in HIV+ men and women. Materials and Methods We retrospectively analyzed 2254 HIV+ patients (1931 men/323 women) who had anal Papanicolaou tests at our institution. 1189 of them also had follow up biopsy. HPV genotyping was performed using the Roche Cobas system and correlated with cytological and histological diagnosis. Results Compared to HIV+ men, HIV+ women had a significantly lower rate of hrHPV infection (67.5% vs 78.5%, p Conclusions Although both HIV+ men and women have increased risk for hrHPV infection, HIV+ women have different hrHPV genotype profiles and higher rates of high grade lesions. Co-infection with different genotypes of hrHPV can significantly increase the risk of HSIL or AIN2-3 in both genders and may requires vigilant clinical and laboratory follow up.