Objectives: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the cervix is one of the leading causes of death in developing countries. Infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) is the major risk factor to develop malignant lesions HR types (HPV16 and HPV18) account for about 70% of all invasive cervical cancers worldwide. It is estimated that 833 Sudanese women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 534 die from the disease every year. The present study aimed to detect HPV 16, and determine the association of HPV16 with age and various grades of cervical carcinoma in patients with clinically confirmed cervical SCC.
Materials and methods: A total of 158 formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues blocks from Sudanese women diagnosed as cervical cancer and benign were collected between 2012 and 2016 at Omdurman Maternity Hospital and National Laboratories, Khartoum, Sudan. HPV DNA detection was done using HPV 16 specific primers in real-time polymerase chain reaction.
Results: The frequency of HPV 16 was identified among 10.34% (n = 6) and 6% (n = 6) women with abnormal cytology and normal cytology, respectively. Based on age, high prevalence rate of HPV 16 was observed among age group 61-70 in women with malignant cases. The degree of differentiation, an important classification in SCC cases revealed that 5% (n = 3) cases had moderately differentiated SCC and two of them were keratinized SCC. In addition, 3.4% (n = 2) SCC cases were keratinized and well differentiated.
Conclusion: Overall, the prevalence of HPV types 16 was higher but had no significant association with cervical SCC in Sudanese women.
Keywords: Cervical cancer; Sudan; human papillomavirus type 16; real time-polymerase chain reaction; squamous cell carcinoma.