Placental HPV Infection in HIV Positive and HIV Negative Zambian Women

Authors

• Chrispin Chisanga, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Peter C. Angeletti

Date of this Version

5-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Major: Biological Sciences

Under the supervision of Professor Peter C. Angeletti

Lincoln, Nebraska, May 2014

Comments

Copyright 2014, Chrispin Chisanga. Used by permission

Abstract

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) have been reported to infect epithelial trophoblastic cells of the placenta, induce cell death and even cause placental malfunction associated with spontaneous preterm delivery. To date, no study has been conducted to determine the role of HIV on HPV genotype distribution and pathogenesis in the placental compartment. This is despite the evidence that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can decrease the cellular immune response and increase the incidence of malignant cancers in HPV patients. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed 200 genomic DNA (gDNA) samples extracted from paraffin embedded placental tissues of HIV positive and HIV negative Zambian women. The gDNA was PCR amplified using GP5+/GP6+ and CPI/CPII primers targeted to the L1 and E1regions of the HPV genome, respectively. We found the overall prevalence of HPV to be 85.0%. The prevalence of HPV in the HIV+ tissues was 84(80.8%), while that of the HIV- tissues was 86(89.6%). This difference in HPV prevalence between the HIV+ and HIV- placental tissues was not significant (p>0.05; p=0.112). Direct sequencing of the PCR products revealed 3 HPV genotypes namely: HPV6, 16 and 90.We observed a significant difference (p

To the best of our knowledge, we are the first group to study HPV in the context of HIV within the placental compartment.

Advisor: Peter C. Angeletti