OBJECTIVEHigh risk human papilomavirus (HPV) infection is often related to cervical cancer. This study investigated the infection of high risk HPV in cervical epithelia among infertile patients. Relative quantification and absolute quantification were applied for determination of "real" HPV viral load in the clinical setting.

METHODSAdopting multi-channels real time PCR to genotype and quantify eight high risk HPV (HPV16, 18, 45, 31; intermediate risk types: HPV33, 52, 58, 67) DNA in cervical epithelia of the 130 infertile patients and the 150 controls. This study applied housekeeping gene (beta-globin) for the DNA quantification on secretions samples for clinical diagnosis.

RESULTSThe infection rate of the infertility group was 25.38 percent (33/130) and that of the control group was 11.33 percent (17/150), the difference was statistically significant. Among the 33 positive cases in the infertility group, 24 cases showed a viral load no less than 106; in 9 of them, the viral load was less than 106. Among the 17 positive cases in the control group, 4 cases had a viral load no less than 106; in 13 of them, the viral load was less than 106. There is a statistically significant difference in viral load between the infertility group and the control group.

CONCLUSIONThe HPV infection rate of the infertility group was higher than that of the control group.