• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.24
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• pp.10961-10966
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• 2015

Background: Minor cervical cytologic abnormalities include atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL). Approximately 10-20% of women with minor cytologic abnormalities have histologic high-grade squamous intraepithelial or worse lesions (HSIL+). In Thailand, women with minor cytologic abnormalities have a relatively high risk of cervical cancer, and referral for colposcopy has been suggested. A triage test is useful in the selection of women at risk for histologic HSIL+ to reduce the colposcopy burden. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of high-risk HPV DNA test in triage of women with minor cytologic abnormalities in northern Thailand. Materials and Methods: All women with ASC-US/LSIL cytology who were referred to our colposcopy clinic from October 2010 to February 2014 were included. HPV DNA testing was performed using Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2). All patients received colposcopic examination. Accuracy values of HC2 in predicting the presence of histologic HSIL+ were calculated. Results: There were 238 women in this study (121 ASC-US and 117 LSIL). The HC2 positivity rate was significantly higher in the LSIL group than in ASC-US group (74.8% versus 41.0%, p<0.001). Histologic HSIL+ was detected in 9 women (7.4%) in the ASC-US group and 16 women (13.7%) in the LSIL group (p=0.141). There was no histologic HSIL+ detected among HC2-negative cases (sensitivity and negative predictive value of 100%). The performance of HC2 triage was highest among women aged >50 years with ASC-US cytology. An increase in the cut-off threshold for positive HC2 resulted in a substantial decrease of sensitivity and negative predictive value. Conclusions: HPV DNA testing with HC2 shows very high sensitivity and negative predictive value in triage of women with minor cervical cytologic abnormalities in northern Thailand. An increase of the cut-off threshold for HC2 triage is not recommended in this region.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8503-8508
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• 2014

Background: After the WHO recommended HPV vaccination of the general population in 2009, government support of HPV vaccination programs was increased in many countries. However, this policy was not implemented in Korea due to perceived low cost-effectiveness. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the cost-utility of HPV vaccination programs targeted to high risk populations as compared to vaccination programs for the general population. Materials and Methods: Each study population was set to 100,000 people in a simulation study to determine the incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR), then standard prevalence rates, cost, vaccination rates, vaccine efficacy, and the Quality-Adjusted Life-Years (QALYs) were applied to the analysis. In addition, sensitivity analysis was performed by assuming discounted vaccination cost. Results: In the socially vulnerable population, QALYs gained through HPV vaccination were higher than that of the general population (General population: 1,019, Socially vulnerable population: 5,582). The results of ICUR showed that the cost of HPV vaccination was higher for the general population than the socially vulnerable population. (General population: 52,279,255 KRW, Socially vulnerable population: 9,547,347 KRW). Compared with 24 million KRW/QALYs as the social threshold, vaccination of the general population was not cost-effective. In contrast, vaccination of the socially vulnerable population was strongly cost-effective. Conclusions: The results suggest the importance and necessity of government support of HPV vaccination programs targeted to socially vulnerable populations because a targeted approach is much more cost-effective. The implementation of government support for such vaccination programs is a critical strategy for decreasing the burden of HPV infection in Korea.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8495-8501
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted to assess the agreement and differences between cervical self-sampling with a Kato device (KSSD) and gynecologist sampling for Pap cytology and human papillomavirus DNA (HPV DNA) detection. Materials and Methods: Women underwent self-sampling followed by gynecologist sampling during screening at two primary health clinics. Pap cytology of cervical specimens was evaluated for specimen adequacy, presence of endocervical cells or transformation zone cells and cytological interpretation for cells abnormalities. Cervical specimens were also extracted and tested for HPV DNA detection. Positive HPV smears underwent gene sequencing and HPV genotyping by referring to the online NCBI gene bank. Results were compared between samplings by Kappa agreement and McNemar test. Results: For Pap specimen adequacy, KSSD showed 100% agreement with gynecologist sampling but had only 32.3% agreement for presence of endocervical cells. Both sampling showed 100% agreement with only 1 case detected HSIL favouring CIN2 for cytology result. HPV DNA detection showed 86.2%agreement (K=0.64, 95% CI 0.524-0.756, p=0.001) between samplings. KSSD and gynaecologist sampling identified high risk HPV in 17.3% and 23.9% respectively (p=0.014). Conclusion: The self-sampling using Kato device can serve as a tool in Pap cytology and HPV DNA detection in low resource settings in Malaysia. Self-sampling devices such as KSSD can be used as an alternative technique to gynaecologist sampling for cervical cancer screening among rural populations in Malaysia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.559-564
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• 2015

Background: The participation of women in cervical cancer screening in Malaysia is low. Self-sampling might be able to overcome this problem. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of self-sampling for cervical smear in our country. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 258 community dwelling women from urban and rural settings who participated in health campaigns. In order to reduce the sampling bias, half of the study population performed the self-sampling prior to the physician sampling while the other half performed the self-sampling after the physician sampling, randomly. Acquired samples were assessed for cytological changes as well as HPV DNA detection. Results: The mean age of the subjects was $40.4{\pm}11.3years$. The prevalence of abnormal cervical changes was 2.7%. High risk and low risk HPV genotypes were found in 4.0% and 2.7% of the subjects, respectively. A substantial agreement was observed between self-sampling and the physician obtained sampling in cytological diagnosis (k=0.62, 95%CI=0.50, 0.74), micro-organism detection (k=0.77, 95%CI=0.66, 0.88) and detection of hormonal status (k=0.75, 95%CI=0.65, 0.85) as well as detection of high risk (k=0.77, 95%CI=0.4, 0.98) and low risk (K=0.77, 95%CI=0.50, 0.92) HPV. Menopausal state was found to be related with 8.39 times more adequate cell specimens for cytology but 0.13 times less adequate cell specimens for virological assessment. Conclusions: This study revealed that self-sampling has a good agreement with physician sampling in detecting HPV genotypes. Self-sampling can serve as a tool in HPV screening while it may be useful in detecting cytological abnormalities in Malaysia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5733-5739
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• 2015

The primary objective of this study was to assess the knowledge of medical students and determine variation between different cultural groups. A secondary aim was to find out the willingness to pay for cervical cancer vaccination and the relationships between knowledge and attitudes towards Human Papillomavirus vaccination. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a private medical university between June 2014 and November 2014 using a convenient sampling method. A total of 305 respondents were recruited and interviewed with standard questionnaires for assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practice towards human papilloma virus and their willingness to pay for HPV vaccination. Knowledge regarding human papilloma virus, human papilloma virus vaccination, cervical cancer screening and cervical cancer risk factors was good. Across the sample, a majority (90%) of the pupils demonstrated a high degree of knowledge about cervical cancer and its vaccination. There were no significant differences between ethnicity and the participants' overall knowledge of HPV infection, Pap smear and cervical cancer vaccination. Some 88% of participants answered that HPV vaccine can prevent cervical cancer, while 81.5% of medical students said they would recommend HPV vaccination to the public although fewer expressed an intention to receive vaccination for themselves.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.936-940
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• 2015

Human papillomavirus (HPV) type 52 is a high-risk HPV responsible for cervical cancer. HPV type 52 is common around the world and is the most common in some Asian regions. The available prophylactic HPV vaccines protect only from HPV types 16 and 18. Supplementing economical vaccines that target HPV type 52 may satisfactorily complement available prophylactic vaccines. A codon-adapted HPV 52 L1 gene was expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha, which is used as an industrial platform for economical hepatitis B surface antigen particle production in China. We found that the recombinant proteins produced in this expression system could form virus-like particles (VLPs) with diameters of approximately 50 nm. This study suggests that the HPV 52 VLPs produced in this platform may satisfactorily complement available prophylactic vaccines in fighting against HPVs prevalent in Asia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8473-8477
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• 2016

Background: High risk human papilloma virus (HPV) types 16 and 18 have been proven as central causes of cervical cancer and safety and immunogenicity of HPV vaccines are sufficiently established. Knowledge and practices of HPV vaccination among medical and paramedical students is vital as these may strongly determine intention to recommend vaccination to others in the future. The present study was therefore undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination among medical and paramedical students and to analyze factors influencing them. Materials and Methods: The present cross sectional study, conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital in south India, included undergraduate students aged 18 years and above, belonging to medical, dental and nursing streams, after informed written consent. Results: Out of 957 participants, only 430 (44.9%) displayed good knowledge and only 65 (6.8%) had received HPV vaccination. Among the unvaccinated, 433 (48.54%), were not willing to take the vaccine. Concerns regarding the efficacy (30.5%), safety (26.1%) and cost of the vaccine (21.7%) were responsible for this. Age, gender, family history of malignancy and mother's education had no influence on knowledge. Compared to medical students, nursing students had better knowledge (OR-1.49, 95% CI 0.96 to 2.3, p = 0.072) and students of dentistry had poor knowledge (OR-0.50 95% CI 0.36 to 0.70, p<0.001). Conclusions: The knowledge and uptake of HPV vaccination among medical and paramedical students in India is poor. Targeted health education interventions may have huge positive impact not only on the acceptance of vaccination among them, but also on their intention to recommend the vaccine in future.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.1025-1029
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• 2014

Cervical carcinoma is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women around the world, and it is associated with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection. HPV genotyping is important for vaccine policy, etiology, natural history, and epidemiology studies. The use of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues for HPV genotyping by reverse blot hybridization assays (REBA) has not been clearly confirmed in retrospective studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness and efficiency of FFPE tissues from cervical cancers for HPV genotyping. HPV genotypes were detected in 52 FFPE tissues from cervical carcinoma specimens by REBA. HPV was detected in 32 (61.5%) of 52 specimens from FFPE, among which 27 (84.4%) harbored single infections and 5(15.6%) contained multiple infections. The HPV single infections (27) were analyzed by high-risk type 18(8), 58(6), 16(5), 33(1), 35(1), 39(1), 56(1) and low risk type 11(2), 6(1), 70(1). The HPV multiple infections (5) included 16/18(2), 18/52(1), 16/56(1), 16/18/33(1). Please consider being more specific here. Do you mean the analysis? Please clarify what you mean by "included."Through this study, it has been determined that the FFPE specimen is feasible and can be used in HPV genotyping, as well as in retrospective studies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2667-2672
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• 2016

Background: Virtually all cases of cervical cancer are caused by persistent infections with a restricted set of human papillomaviruses (HPV). Cancer of the cervix is the third or even the second most common cancer in women worldwide, more than 85% of the cases occurring in developing countries, such as China and India, including the Republic of Kazakhstan. The purpose was to determine the HPV type distribution to evaluate efficacy of vaccination and adjust cancer prevention strategy in Western Kazakhstan in the future. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of data obtained from PCR laboratories in 4 regional centers for the time period covering 12 months, 2013-2014, using AmpliSens$^{(R)}$ Real-Time PCR kits for HPV testing of 12 genotypes (16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, and 59). Results: A total of 1,661 persons were HPV tested within 2013-14, but a proprotion examined for 16 and 18 genotypes only (563) was not been included for statistic analysis of distribution and ratio of the most common genotypes. Males accounted for only a small number (N=90 in total). Conclusions: Total number of the HPV-positive appeared to be 26.0%, or 286 of N=1098. Types distribution was as follows: type 16 (10.7%), 39 (5.83%), 51 (5.27%), 31 (4.85%), 56 (4.58%), 18 (3.61%), 59 (2.64%), 58 (2.22%), 35 (1.94%), 33 (1.25%). Overall the HPV infection was highest in 16-29 years old (62.4%) and decreased with age. Total prevalence of the HR-HPVs amongst male population was 21.4% with top five types 16, 18, 39, 51, 31. Trends forcorrelations between Aktau site and type 33 (Cramer's V 0.2029), between Caucasian ethnicity and type 33 (Cramer's V .1716), and between European ethnicities in Uralsk and type 45 (Cramer's V .1752) were found. Of N 563 tested separately for 16 or 18 types, 13.6% were positive. As a whole, the distribution of 16/18 types had a ratio of 3.53:1. Given the vaccine-targeted type 16 is widely spread amongst this regional population, HPV immunization program of adolescent girls 10-13 years should be implemented appropriately.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.4135-4141
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• 2014

Background: Human papillomaviruses (HPV) may play an important role as one of the possible etiologies of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The present study aimed to investigate the association between HPV and OSCC in young Japanese patients by examining the presence of HPV DNA and surrogate markers in OSCC tissues. Materials and Methods: Forty young patients with OSCC whose surgical specimens were available were analyzed and compared with 40 patients randomly recruited from a pool of patients aged >40 years. HPV DNA was detected using the polymerase chain reaction-based AMPLICOR$^{(R)}$ HPV test, and surrogate markers of HPV infection were analyzed using immunohistochemical techniques to detect $p16^{INK4a}$ and p53. Results: Only two (5%) young patients and one (2.5%) older patient were positive for HPV DNA. $p16^{INK4a}$ overexpression was identified in six (15%) young patients. p53 staining levels were not high in tissues of most young patients (27 patients, 67.5%). HPV DNA status did not significantly correlate with $p16^{INK4a}$ expression levels. Profiles of increased levels of $p16^{INK4a}$ expression with diminished levels of p53 staining were not associated with the presence of HPV DNA. The combined p53 with $p16^{INK4a}$ profiles were significantly correlated with alcohol consumption in younger patients (p=0.006). Conclusions: Results of the present study indicate that HPV is less likely to cause OSCC in young Japanese patients, and the $p16^{INK4a}$ expression level is not an appropriate surrogate marker for HPV infection in OSCC.