Abstract:
High risk human Papillomavirus (HPV) infections ultimately cause cervical cancer. Human Immunodefi
ciency Virus (HIV)
infected women often present with multiple high-risk HPV infections and are thus at a higher risk of developing cervical cancer.
However, information on the circulating high-risk HPV genotypes in Kenya in both HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women
is still scanty. This study is aimed at determining the phylogeny and the HPV genotypes in women with respect to their HIV
status and at correlating this with cytology results. This study was carried out among women attending the Reproductive Health
Clinic at Kenyatta National Hospital, a referral hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. A cross-sectional study recruited a total of 217
women aged 18 to 50 years. Paired blood and cervical samples were obtained from consenting participants. Blood was used for
serological HIV screening while cervical smears were used for cytology followed by HPV DNA extraction, HPV DNA PCR
amplifi
cation, and phylogenetic analysis. Out of 217 participants, 29 (13.4%) were HIV seropositive, while 68 (31.3%) were
positive for HPV DNA. Eight (3.7%) of the participants had abnormal cervical cytology. High-risk HPV 16 was the most
prevalent followed by HPV 81, 73, 35, and 52. One participant had cervical cancer, was HIV infected, and had multiple highrisk
infections with HPV 26, 35, and 58. HPV 16, 6, and 81 had two variants each. HPV 16 in this study clustered with HPV
from Iran and Africa. This study shows the circulation of other HPV 35, 52, 73, 81, 31, 51, 45, 58, and 26 in the Kenyan
population that play important roles in cancer etiology but are not included in the HPV vaccine. Data from this study could
inform vaccination strategies. Additionally, this data will be useful in future epidemiological studies of HPV in Nairobi as the
introduction or development of new variants can be detected.
