Analysis of HPV11 variants in recurrent respiratory papillomatosis

Abstract

The recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is characterized by the formation of papillomas in the respiratory tract of children and adults. Papillomas found in the larynx are benign, and can spread throughout the respiratory tract and obstruct the airway, causing death. The clinical course of the disease is variable and can occur only once or in different times. This disease is the result of infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), which have the ability to infect squamous epithelium, both skin and oral and genital mucosa. HPV can be divided into two groups according to their oncogenic potential, high-risk or low-risk, the latter group is responsible for the RRP and mainly represented by genotypes 6 and 11. HPV replication is controlled by the long control region (LCR), which activates or suppress activity of the gene promoter regulating the transcription, in particular the E6 and E7 genes. The changes in the region of virus variants may differ within one HPV type. Because the changes in LCR influence the binding of virus transcription factors, the detection of variations observed through this region is important to identify and correlate differences in clinical and pathological features that can be linked to the nucleotide variation. So, the aims of this study are to detect HPV11 variants present in the samples of RRP and correlate with disease severity, according to the clinicopathological parameters of the samples and identify changes in LCR that may influence the transcriptional activity of viruses and modulate the clinical course of the disease. (AU)