Treatment of latent or subclinical Genital HPV Infection with 5-aminolevulinic acid-based photodynamic therapy

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Highlights

Abstract

Background

Genital HPV infections are widely prevalent. HPV can persist and be transmitted to partners even after warts are gone. The HPV genotype and viral load assay can reveal whether infections are persistent or latent, and it can serve as a predictor of infection clearance. Although numerous studies have demonstrated that photodynamic therapy (PDT) is effective against condyloma acuminata, there is no data on its effects on latent, persistent infections.

Methods

A total of 20 patients with latent or subclinical HPV infection were evaluated. At each patient visit, polymerase chain reaction was used to identify HPV genotypes and measure the viral loads, which reflect the status of HPV infection. We administered 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-based PDT weekly for patients with active infections, while no treatment was administered to patients with regressing infections.

Results

PDT treatment can effectively eliminate HPV, significantly reducing viral loads after three rounds of treatment (p < 0.001). The rate of negative HPV DNA test results was higher in patients with latent or subclinical infections than in patients with genital warts after one round of PDT treatment.

Conclusions

ALA-PDT can effectively eliminate latent or subclinical HPV infections. Additionally, our assay for identifying HPV genotypes and viral loads, which reflect the status of HPV infection, can accurately guide ALA-PDT treatment.

Section snippets

Background

There is persuasive evidence that human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA can persist in the epithelium in the absence of a disease, and it has been suggested that latent infections may persist for years or even decades [1]. Persistent HPV infection is the strongest risk factor for developing HPV-associated precancers and cancers [2]. The aim of conventional treatment is to remove warts, which is ineffective for latent, persistent infections. As such, it is common for genital warts to recur after

Aims

To observe the effect of photodynamic therapy in patients with latent or subclinical genital HPV Infection.

Methods

Patients of the Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Nanfang Hospital from February 2016 to December 2017, who had positive test results for HPV and were asymptomatic with no visible lesions, were enrolled. Patients under 18 years old provided informed consent by their guardian. HPV genotype and viral load assay were performed on a female baby with five month old with the consent of her parents. At each patient visit, polymerase chain reaction was used to identify HPV genotypes and

Results

A total of 20 patients (7 males and 13 females) with ages ranging from 5 months to 50 years were enrolled. Their clinical characteristics are presented in Table 1. A total of 15 patients with active infections received ALA-PDT treatment, and HPV viral loads were significantly decreased after three rounds of treatment (p < 0.001). Fourteen of the patients had negative results on HPV tests after three rounds of PDT treatment (14/15, 93.33%). Among them, twelve had negative HPV test results after

Conclusion

In the present study, the results indicated that PDT treatment can effectively eliminate HPV, significantly reducing viral loads after three rounds of treatment (p < 0.001). The rate of negative HPV DNA test results was higher in patients with latent or subclinical infections than in patients with genital warts after one round of PDT treatment, which indicates that latent HPV infections are more easily cleared that symptomatic cases. ALA-PDT can effectively eliminate latent or subclinical HPV

Conflict of interest

All authors have no conflict of interest.

References (4)

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