Distribution of HPV genotypes in Slovenian patients with anal carcinoma: preliminary results

The aim of the present study was to obtain first data on the distribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes in patients with anal cancer (AC) in Slovenia. A total of 21 samples of AC (16 archival FFPE samples and 5 fresh-frozen tissue samples) collected from the same number of patients were analysed. All samples were tested for the presence of HPV DNA using a consensus GP5+/ GP6+ PCR and HPV genotypes determined by the INNO LiPA HPV Genotyping Extra test, capable of recognizing 28 different alfa-HPV genotypes. All 21 AC samples were HPV DNA positive. The most frequent HPV genotype, found in 19/21 AC samples, was HPV-16. Only low-risk HPV-6 was detected in one sample and infection with high-risk HPV-52 and low-risk HPV-61 was identified in one sample. Prophylactic HPV vaccination with currently available vaccines could potentially prevent the great majority of anal cancers in Slovenia.