A prospective study of antibody responses to defined epitopes of human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 in relationship to genital and anorectal presence of HPV DNA.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether antibody responses against synthetic peptides derived from genital human papillomavirus (HPV) proteins are associated with laboratory-proven genital and anorectal HPV infection. In this study, 158 heterosexual patients (110 women and 48 men) were followed prospectively. At each visit we collected serum samples as well as specimens from several sites in the anogenital area for detection of HPV type 6/11 (HPV-6/11), -16, -18, and -33 DNAs by PCR. Immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG responses against disrupted bovine papilloma virions and eight different synthetic peptides derived from HPV-6/11, -16, and -18 were determined for serum samples from the first and the last visits. The subjects attended the Municipal Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, two to seven times (mean, four times) at approximately 4-month intervals. Women were monitored over a period of 155 person-years, and men were monitored over 65 person-years. The magnitudes of the IgA responses against HPV-16 late protein epitopes L1:13, L1:31, and L2:49 were significantly higher in the sera from the last visit among the currently HPV DNA-positive participants than in HPV DNA-negative persons (P = 0.02). When the persons positive for any HPV type at any time during the follow-up period were compared with those who were negative at all times during the follow-up period, we also found a significant elevation of IgA responses against L1:31 and L2:49 (P = 0.04 and 0.01, respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)