Association between APOBEC3A/B Polymorphism and the Risk of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection in Vietnamese Women

Abstract

The persistent of a high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) infection is a major cause of cervical cancer. APOBEC3A and APOBEC3B are cytidine deaminases, thereby contributing to viral clearance. The APOBEC3A/B deletion polymorphism, resulting from non-allelic homologous recombination between the APOBEC3A and APOBEC3B genes, has been associated with susceptibility to HPV infection. In this study, APOBEC3A/B genotypes were analyzed in 470 cervicovaginal samples from Vietnamese women, including 212 HPV-negative and 258 hrHPV-positive samples. The frequency of the APOBEC3A/B deletion allele was 0.46 in the HPV-negative group and 0.38 in the hrHPV-positive group. A significant difference in the distribution of APOBEC3A/B genotypes was seen between the two groups. These results suggest that APOBEC3A/B deletion allele is associated with reduced susceptibility to hrHPV infection in Vietnamese women.