MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF GENITALPAPILLOMAVIRUS INFECTION IN THEREPUBLIC OF BELARUS

Aim. Determination of epidemiologic features
of genital HPV infection in women living
in the Republic of Belarus, and detection of
phylogenetic features of HPV-16. Materials and
methods. 1035 samples of epithelial cervix smears
from patients with benign pathology, pre-cancer
and cervix cancer were included into the study.
35 samples containing HPV-16 type DNA were
selected for sequencing. HPV L1 gene sequencing
(300 n.p.) was performed by using 3100-Avant (Applied Biosystems). Sequencing results
analysis was performed by using ClustalX (1.8)
and BioEdit. MEGA 4.1 was used for phylogenetic
analysis of the fragments obtained and tree
construction. Results. HPV-16 type is a dominant
genotype that is responsible for the development
of cervix cancer, its frequency of occurrence
is 56.7% among patients with the specified
pathology living in the Republic of Belarus.
Predominance of East-Asian and European
HPV-16 subtypes that can be attributed to a
single evolutionary branch are the territorial
features. At the same time detection of HPV-16
subtypes that have 0.003 - 0.007 p-distance
between probes may indicate the presence of the
several progenitors circulating in the country. A
unique HPV-16 subtype was sequenced in the
Gomel Region that could be one of the progenitors
of HPV-16 circulating on the European
continent. Conclusion. Further studies performed
in the field of molecular epidemiology
will allow to give a qualitative characteristic of
the epidemic process, determine the direction
and time of introduction of the virus into the
country, control the circulation of the virus in
the population.

molecular epidemiology, genital papillomavirus infection, Belarus