Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Role of HPV 16 variants among cervical carcinoma samples from Northeastern Brazil  
 
Version: 0 Date: 18 May 2020  
 
Reviewer: Ying Hong  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Reviewer reports(Prof.Hong):  
 
Manuscript ID: BMWH -D-20-00064, entitled "Role of HPV 16 variants amo ng cervical samples 
from Northeastern Brazil"  
 
Authors found that Data from 120 patients with cervical cancer were analyzed. Most women 
were between 41 and 54 years of age, had schooling until primary school, a family income 
between 1 and 2 times the minimu m wage and were married/in a consensual union. HPV was 
present in 88 women (73%). The most prevalent types were HPV 16 (47/54%), HPV 18 
(12/13.8%), HPV 35 (6/6.9%) and HPV 45 (5/5.7%). Of the 47 HPV 16 positive cases, variant A 
(49%) was present in 23 samp les, followed by variant D in 20 cases (43%), and variants B and C 
in 2 cases each (4%).The most prevalent histological type of HPV 16 tumors was epidermoid 
carcinoma, followed by adenocarcinoma. There was a statistically significant association 
between HP V 16 variants and the tumors' histological types (P &lt; 0.001).  
The author concludes that knowledge of HPV 16 variants will provide data on their influence on 
the pathological and oncogenic aspects of cervical lesions.  
 
I have four questions about this paper.  
 
First,the main contents of the manuscript include Identification of HPV 16 variants ，
Sociodemographic and clinical data ，Identification of HPV type ，Histological types of 
analyzed tumors ，HPV 16 Variants ，etc.The title of  the manuscript is" Role of HPV 16 variants 
among cervical samples from Northeastern Brazil". Is the title not accurate enough? Please 
modify.  
 
Second,HPV was present in 88 women (73%) from 120 patients with cervical cancer in results. 
Are you sure this is  the result? Is there any reason why HPV infection rate in cervical cancer 
samples in your study is so low?  
 
Third,this is descriptive, prospective, and transversal study. The study was conducted from 
January 2016 to December 2017.I hope to supplement the r esults of prospective and transversal 
study, including the influence of HPV16 patients and each HPV16 variant on the progression of 
cervical cancer, the influence of pathological types and the influence on prognosis, such as the 
speed of disease progressio n, the similarities and differences of pathological types, the cure rate 
or tumor free survival rate, the survival rate with tumor, the mortality rate, the 3 -year survival 
rate, the 5 -year survival rate, etc  
 
Fourth, is sociodemography related to the HPV16 variant?  
 
There are also several writing irregularities that need to be revised.  
for example: The most prevalent types were HPV 16 (47/54%), which should be the most 
prevalent types were HPV 16 ,which accounts for 53.41%(47/88).  
The manuscript is written i n accordance with BMC journals. 
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Yes 
 
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If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
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If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
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additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please speci fy what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, conside ring the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, f ees, funding, or salary from an 
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financial ly from the publication of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
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financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
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manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
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