Prevalence of antibodies to human papillomaviruses in the general population of the Czech Republic.

Sera from 450 individuals between the age of 1 and 80 years, representing the general population of the Czech Republic, were tested for the presence of antibodies to human-papillomavirus(HPV)-derived antigens. The following antigens were used: (i) HPV1 virions; (ii) HPV16, -18 and -33-virus-like particles (VLP); (iii) peptides derived from L2 open reading frames (ORFs) of HPV16 and HPV6/11; (iv) peptides derived from HPV16 E2, E4 and E7 ORFs of HPV16. The prevalence of antibodies reactive with the capsid-derived antigens was age-dependent, while no clear age dependence was observed in the distribution of antibodies to peptides derived from HPV16 early proteins. In individual sera, high correlations between the presence of antibodies reactive with the 2 L2 peptides, also between the antibodies reactive with different VLPs, were found. While the simultaneous presence of the 2 L2 antibodies was frequently detected in individual sera in all age groups, the simultaneous occurrence of VLP antibodies was detected mostly in subjects older than 20 years. There were no significant differences in HPV-antibody distribution between men and women.