Short Report
Low avidity of human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 antibodies is associated with increased risk of low-risk but not high-risk HPV type prevalence
1 National Institute for Health and Welfare, Oulu, Finland
2 Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe, Uganda
3 School of Public Health, University of Tampere, Finland
4 Department of Virology, University of Helsinki and Huslab, Helsinki, Finland
5 College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
6 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, San Raphael of St. Francis Hospital, Nsambya, Uganda
7 Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
8 Entebbe Hospital, Entebbe, Uganda
9 Department of Dermatology, Medical University Vienna, Austria
BMC Research Notes 2011, 4:170 doi:10.1186/1756-0500-4-170
Published: 6 June 2011Abstract
Background
Low avidity of antibodies against viral, bacterial and parasitic agents has been used for differential diagnosis of acute versus recent/past infections. The low-avidity antibodies may however, persist for a longer period in some individuals.
Findings
We studied the association of human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 antibody avidity with seroprevalence to HPV types 6/11/18/31/33/45. Antibody avidity was analysed for 365 HPV16 seropositive pregnant Finnish and Ugandan women using a modified ELISA.
Low avidity of HPV16 antibodies was found in 15% of Finnish and 26% of Ugandan women. Ugandan women with low-avidity HPV16 antibodies had an increased risk estimate for HPV6/11 (odds ratio, OR 2.9; 95%CI 1.01-8.4) seropositivity but not to high-risk HPV types 18/31/33/45.
Conclusion
Association of the low avidity HPV16 antibody "phenotype" with possible susceptibility to infections with other HPV types warrants investigation.
