Abstract 2027: Anal cancer among African Americans associate with HPV16 lineage B and HIV
Authors: Brim Hassan , Mirabello Lisa , Afsari Ali , Abbas Muneer , Yeager Meredith , Boland Joseph , Bass Sara , Steinberg Mia , Cullen Michael , Laiyemo Adeyinka , Naab Tammy , Shokrani Babak , Lee Edward , Nouraie Mehdi , Ashktorab Hassan 
Published: September 2020

Background: Human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) is one of the most common and carcinogenic HPV types associated with high risk of anal, vagina, vulva, penis and cervical neoplastic transformations. However, many genetic variants exist within this virus and not all seem to have the same carcinogenic potential.

Aim: To determine HPV16 lineages and their association with risk of high-grade anal lesions in African Americans in an inner-city hospital.

Methods: We reviewed medical records of 370 African Americans with anal lesions from Jan. 2007 to Dec. 2015. This study was approved by Howard University Institutional Review Board. Demographic, clinical and pathological data including HPV, HIV, HCV (hepatitis C virus), diabetes mellitus, hypertension and body mass index (BMI) were collected. DNA was extracted from a subset of HPV16-positive patients with FFPE tissue samples (72 patients, 111 samples) and used for HPV16 whole-genome sequencing. We assessed HPV16 variant lineages and associations with disease stage. Statistical analyses were performed using Chi-square tests, Student's t-tests, and logistic regression. Odds ratios (OR) and p-values were calculated for comparisons of normal/condyloma/high-grade dysplasia (HGD) vs. squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and for normal/condyloma vs. HGD. The most common HPV16 A1 sublineage was used as a reference in these comparisons.

Results: Males represented 75% of the patients (n=276), with a median age of 44 years and BMI of 25.8 kg/m2. The frequency of condyloma, high-grade dysplasia, SCC and adenocarcinoma was 191 (52%), 26 (7%), 31 (8%) and 8 (2%), respectively. The frequency of HPV, HIV, and HCV was 231 (68%), 147 (43%) and 42 (12%), respectively. HPV and HIV were risk factors for condyloma and dysplasia (P&lt;0.05). All four main lineages of HPV16 (A,B,C,D) were detected in our specimens, with sublineage A1 most common. Lineage B, also named the African-1 HPV16 lineage because it is most common in Africa, had the strongest association with SCC (OR=10.5) whether alone or in combination with lineages A4 and D (OR=10.5), although with a lower statistical significance (0.054 vs. 0.009). As for HGD, lineage B along with A4, C and D only gave an OR of 1.4.

Conclusion: We show that the majority of patients with anal lesions are young males with HPV and HIV co-infections. HPV16 lineage B was associated with a high risk of SCC development.

Citation Format: Hassan Brim, Lisa Mirabello, Ali Afsari, Muneer Abbas, Meredith Yeager, Joseph Boland, Sara Bass, Mia Steinberg, Michael Cullen, Adeyinka Laiyemo, Tammy Naab, Babak Shokrani, Edward Lee, Mehdi Nouraie, Hassan Ashktorab. Anal cancer among African Americans associate with HPV16 lineage B and HIV [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2027.