Association between poor prognosis in early-stage invasive cervical carcinomas and non-detection of HPV DNA

Abstract Human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA sequences (HPV types 16,18, 33, 35 or uncharacterised) were detected by Southern blot hybridisation and polymerase chain reaction in 84% of 106 early-stage invasive carcinomas of the uterine cervix. Among HPV-positive patients, the risk of overall relapse did not differ with individual HPV types. Compared with HPV-positive patients, those with no detectable HPV DNA had a 2·6 times higher risk of overall relapse (p