Thaís da Rocha Boeira

Cervical human papillomavirus infection and persistence: a clinic-based study in the countryside from South Brazil

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is common in sexually active women and viral persistence may cause intraepithelial lesions and eventually progress to cervical cancer (CC). The present study aimed to investigate epidemiological factors related to HPV infection and to evaluate viral persistence and CC precursor lesions frequencies in women from a city in the countryside of South Brazil. Three hundred women were recruited from a primary public health care clinic. The patients were interviewed and underwent sampling with cervical brushes for HPV-DNA detection/typing by a PCR-based assay and cytological analysis by Pap smear test. HPV was detected in 47 (15.7%) women. HPV infection was significantly associated with young age (<30 years) and low socio-economic status. Seventeen (5.7%) women presented cytological abnormalities, three of them with precursor CC intraepithelial lesions. A subgroup of 79 women had been previously analyzed and thirteen (16.4%) were persistently infected, two with precursor CC intraepithelial lesions and high-risk HPV types infection (both of them without cervical abnormalities in the first exam). In conclusion, HPV infection was associated with young age (<30 years) and low family income; viral persistence was low (16.4%) but related to CC precursor lesions; and HPV-DNA high risk types detection would help to screen CC in the population.

Polymorphisms in Genes Related to Cervical Cancer in A Brazilian Population: A Case-Control Study

To the editor: Cervical cancer (CC) is the fourth most common cancer in women, with approximately 528,000 new cases in the world each year, 80% of them in developing countries [1]. It is well recognized that persistent infection of human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of precursor lesions that progress to CC, but only a small proportion of these HPV infected women develop the disease. In this sense, polymorphisms in human genes have also been associated with CC [2]. Genome-wide studies investigated the association of human single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with HPV persistent infection, progression to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and CC in Latin American women [3, 4]. More than seven thousand SNPs were investigated in genes related to immune response, DNA repair, viral replication and entry into the host cell. Association to persistent HPV progression to CIN and CC was observed with SNPs in genes of DNA repair (EXO1, CYBA, FANCA, XRCC1, GTF2H4, DUT, FLJ35220, and DMC1), immune response (IRF) and virus entry into the cell (SULF1 and OAS3) [3, 4]. The present case-control study evaluated the frequency of nine SNPs (all of them previously demonstrated to have significant association with HPV persistence and/or cancer) and the association with CC in a population in South Brazil. The selected SNPs were located in genes of DNA repair (rs4149963 in EXO1, rs3784621 in DUT, rs4603608 in FLJ35220 and rs2239359 in FANCA), immune response (rs7251 in the IRF), and virus entry into the host cell (rs4737999, rs10108002, rs4284050 in SULF1, and rs12302655 in OAS3). The population sample of this study was 109 CC patients (mean age 50.3 ± 14.3 years; range 25–88 years), recruited during treatment at the Center of High Complexity in Oncology (Centro de Assistência de Alta Complexidade em Oncologia CACON), located in the city of Ijuí in the Brazil’s southernmost state (Rio Grande do Sul), from 2012 to 2016; and 220 controls (mean 49.5 ± 13.2 years; range 21–82 years) recruited at the Women’s Health Center (Centro de Saúde da Mulher), a primary public health care clinic located in the city of Cruz Alta (also in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil) from 2012 to 2013. This last women group was previously characterized in cross-sectional epidemiological study [5]. Biological samples were obtained from the mouth in the CC patients (cases) and from the endocervix in the healthy controls. Buccal and endocervical cells were obtained by exfoliation using cytobrush and after stored in a buffer solution (EDTA pH = 8.0 0.01 M, SDS 0.03 M) at −20 °C until analysis. Total DNA was extracted from peripheral blood cells by silica adsorption method. EXO1 (rs4149963), DUT (rs3784621), FLJ35220 (rs4603608), FANCA (rs2239359), IRF3 (rs7251), SULF1 (rs4737999, rs10108002 and rs4284050) and OAS3 (rs12302655) SNPs were genotyped using TaqMan® specific SNP genotyping assays (Life Technologies Co, Carlsbab, CA, USA). Allelic discrimination real-time polymerase chain reactions (PCR) were performed on the StepOnePlusTM system according to conditions informed by this manufacturer. Thermal cycling conditions were: 10 min at 95 °C followed by 45 cycles of 15 s at 95 °C and 1 min at 60 °C. Allelic discrimination was performed by measuring end-point fluorescence using * Jonas Michel Wolf jonasmwolf@gmail.com

Risk factors for hepatitis B transmission in South Brazil

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major public health problem in Brazil. Several risk factors are involved in HBV infection and their identification by a rational and essential approach is required to prevent the transmission of this infection in Brazil. OBJECTIVES To evaluate risk factors associated with HBV infection in South Brazil. METHODS A total of 260 patients with HBV and 260 controls from Caxias do Sul (state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) participated in this study. All participants were given a standard questionnaire to yield the sociodemographic information and to identify HBV risk factors. HBV infection was detected by HBsAg test in all participants. FINDINGS HBV infection in these cases was strongly associated with history of a family member HBV-infected, mainly mother [odds ratio (OR) = 4.86; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.69–13.91], father (OR = 5.28; 95% CI: 1.58–17.71), and/or siblings (OR = 22.16; 95% CI: 9.39–52.25); sharing personal objects (OR = 1.40; 95% CI: 1.37–2.38); and having history of blood transfusion (OR = 2.05; 95% CI: 1.10–2.84). CONCLUSIONS HBV infection was strongly associated with having a family member infected with hepatitis B, sharing personal objects, and having history of blood transfusion.

Lack of association between human leukocyte antigen polymorphisms rs9277535 and rs7453920 and chronic hepatitis B in a Brazilian population

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious public health problem worldwide. The progression of the disease depends on several host and viral factors and may result in fulminant hepatitis (very rare), acute hepatitis with spontaneous clearance, and chronic hepatitis B infection. Previous studies demonstrated that variations in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II (HLA-DPB1 and HLA-DQB2 genes) are related to the chronic HBV infection. This study aimed to investigate the association of two single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs), one in the HLA-DPB1 (rs9277535) and one in the HLA-DQB2 (rs7453920), with chronic hepatitis B infection in a southern Brazilian sample. This case-control study included 260 HBV patients attended in a Specialized 2 V.R.Z.B. Pereira et al. Genetics and Molecular Research 16 (2): gmr16029565 Center for Health in Caxias do Sul (Brazil) between 2014 and 2016. The same number of controls (matching for age, gender, and ethnicity) was obtained in a University Hospital in the same city and period. Blood samples were collected and genomic DNA was extracted. Genotyping were performed by real-time Taqman PCR method. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals and significance level of 5% (P < 0.05) were calculated. Allele frequencies in the SNP rs9277535 were 72.6% for A and 27.4% for G nucleotides in cases and 75.0% for A and 25.0% for G in controls. Allele frequencies in the SNP rs7453920 were of 25.7% for A and 74.3% for G in cases and 28.8% for A and 71.2% for G in controls. No statistically significant association was found between both SNPs and chronic hepatitis B (P > 0.05).