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Effect of COVID-19 infection on HPV clearance
Celal Akdemir1, Mücahit Furkan Balcı2, Halil İbrahim Yıldız3, Mehmet Bora Bozgeyik2, Özgür Erdoğan1, Denizhan Bayramoğlu4, Muzaffer Sancı11Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Health Sciences University Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Health Sciences University Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey
3Department of Medical Oncology, Health Sciences University Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey
4Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Izmir City Hospital, Izmir, Turkey
INTRODUCTION: The objective of the present study was to ascertain the impact of the dysregulated immune response caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) on the clearance of human papillomavirus (HPV) in infected patients.
METHODS: In this retrospective study, patients who were followed up at our centre between 2020 and 2022 due to positive test results for HPV 16 or 18 and who had a documented history of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus were included. Patients without a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection constituted the control group. To reduce the number of variables, patients who had received HPV or COVID-19 vaccination were excluded from the study.
RESULTS: The study included 105 patients with single HPV (16 or 18) positivity, of whom 55 (52.4%) were COVID-19 positive and 50 (47.6%) were COVID-19 negative. It was found that HPV clearance was statistically significantly lower in HPV-positive patients infected with COVID-19 compared to those who were not infected (p<0.001). Additionally, HPV clearance was found to be statistically significantly lower in the group with a history of smoking (p<0.001).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, commonly referred to as “coronavirus”, may be associated with a reduction in the clearance of HPV types 16 and 18. Despite the modest number of cases included, the findings are significant in establishing a benchmark for future research with larger sample sizes.
Manuscript Language: English
