Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Background: Inuit communities in Northern Quebec have been shown to have high rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, cervical cancer, and cervical cancer-related mortality as compared to the Canadian population. High risk (HR) HPV types can be further classified as variants based on genetic sequence. Genetic variation may affect the time to clear an infection thus oncogenicity. There is limited information on which variants are found in circumpolar areas. This information will better characterize HR-HPV in Nunavik and further our understanding of the natural history of the infection. Methods: 629 Inuit women (age 15- 69 years) from Nunavik had HPV DNA collected along with Pap smear samples between 2002-2010 and sequenced. The different variants present are described and compared to similar circumpolar populations. Results: There were 174 women that were positive for HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 45, 52, 56, or 58 during follow-up. Among the 57 women positive for HPV-16, there were 5 different variants. There were 8 different variants of HPV-18 present. All HPV-16 and 18 samples were most similar to sequences previously found to have originated in Europe. The sequences that were first described in the literature were not found for HPV-58, and were rare for HPV- 31, 45, 52, and 56 within this population. Conclusion: These trends are similar to what was seen in other circumpolar regions of Canada, although there appears to be less genetic diversity as no non-European variants of HPV-16 or 18 were present. We are currently exploring associations of HR-HPV variant with infection clearance.