Abstract
The natural history of infections with many human papillomavirus (HPV) types is poorly understood. Here, we describe for the first time the age- and sex-dependent antibody prevalence for 29 cutaneous and five mucosal HPV types from 15 species within five phylogenetic genera (alpha, beta, gamma, mu, nu) in a general population. Sera from 1,797 German adults and children (758 males and 1,039 females) between 1 and 82 years (median 37 years) were analysed for antibodies to the major capsid protein L1 by Luminex-based multiplex serology. The first substantial HPV antibody reactions observed already in children and young adults are those to cutaneous types of the genera nu (HPV 41) and mu (HPV 1, 63). The antibody prevalence to mucosal high-risk types, most prominently HPV 16, was elevated after puberty in women but not in men and peaked between 25 and 34 years. Antibodies to beta and gamma papillomaviruses (PV) were rare in children and increased homogeneously with age, with prevalence peaks at 40 and 60 years in women and 50 and 70 years in men. Antibodies to cutaneous alpha PV showed a heterogeneous age distribution. In summary, these data suggest three major seroprevalence patterns for HPV of phylogenetically distinct genera: antibodies to mu and nu skin PV appear early in life, those to mucosal alpha PV in women after puberty, and antibodies to beta as well as to gamma skin PV accumulate later in life.
Highlights
Papillomaviruses (PV) are non-enveloped DNA viruses infecting cutaneous or mucosal epithelia of warm-blooded vertebrates
The cutaneous human papillomavirus (HPV) types 1, 2, 3, 10, 57 and HPV 4, belonging to three different genera, are associated with benign plantar, common, and flat skin warts both in the general population and in renal transplant recipients [6,7]. b PV are found in high copy numbers in benign macular skin lesions of patients with the rare hereditary disease Epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV) [8]
In the German general population, we investigated the prevalence of antibodies to the capsid proteins of 34 HPV types representative of all five PV genera that contain HPV
Summary
Papillomaviruses (PV) are non-enveloped DNA viruses infecting cutaneous or mucosal epithelia of warm-blooded vertebrates. Fifteen so-called high-risk (HR) and three putative HR mucosal HPV of genus a, most notably the two most prevalent HR types 16 and 18, are found in more than 90% of cervical tumours [4] and with lower frequency in other anogenital and oro-pharyngeal carcinomas [3]. Thirteen of these HPV types have recently been classified as human carcinogens [5]. The same types are found in non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC), namely squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and less frequently basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the skin, and in normal skin and plucked hairs of EV patients, immunosuppressed patients, e.g. transplant recipients, and less frequently immunocompetent patients [9,10]. c PV and HPV 41 (genus n) cause
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