HPV16 Sublineage Associations with Histology-Specific Cancer Risk Using HPV Whole-Genome Sequences in 3200 Women

Abstract

Background: HPV16 is a common sexually transmitted infection although few infections lead to cervical precancer/cancer; we cannot distinguish nor mechanistically explain why only certain infections progress. HPV16 can be classified into four main evolutionary-derived variant lineages (A, B, C, D) that have been previously suggested to have varying disease risks. Methods: We used a high-throughput HPV16 whole-genome sequencing assay to investigate variant lineage risk among 3215 HPV16-infected women. Using sublineages A1/A2 as the reference, we assessed all variant lineage associations with infection outcome over three or more years of follow-up: 1107 control subjects (