The relationship between HPV infection and cervical cancer disease

  Since HPV is widely present in nature, human skin, digestive tract, respiratory tract, etc. all carry this virus. Therefore, all women who have sex are likely to have HPV to their genital tract through sexual contact, and the cumulative rate of K-body infection with HPV can be as high as 60% to 70%. That is, f, 60% to 70% of women, in their lifetime have been infected with HPV, but this infection is usually transient.  Because when the body is infected with this virus, the body will gradually, and a few patients will soon develop immunity to the virus, and when the immunity is strong enough, HPV will be cleared. Therefore, a large number of medical statistics show that although a large percentage of the population is infected by HPV, most of them are transient, that is, the virus will disappear naturally in 1 – 2 years’ time (pan HPV infection). The immune system in most women can eliminate the HPV that enters their body. Only a few women with weaker immune function are unable to eliminate the HPV that enters their body, resulting in persistent HPV infection, but this process takes about 8 to 12 years before it may develop into cervical cancer.  Most HPV-infected women can spontaneously clear their HPV infection without any secondary disease; only persistent HPV infection is closely associated with cervical lesions. It has also been found that a low immune status to HPV is prevalent in patients with CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) and cervical cancer infected with HPV.  HPV infection is usually classified into latent infection stage, subclinical infection stage, clinical symptom stage and HPV-associated tumor stage. Cervical cancer also has a range of precancerous lesions. People refer to cervical lesions that can progress to invasive cancer as cervical atypical hyperplasia, known cytologically as squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL); pathologically as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).  Not all HPV-infected patients and CIN will progress to cancer, which depends on three main factors: viral factors, host factors and environmental synergistic factors. Viral factors mainly depend on the type of HPV.  (1) Among women who are already infected with HPV, the risk of progression of cervical cancer lesions is greater in women with positive high-risk HPV infection than in women with low-risk HPV infection or HPV-negative. In addition the timing of the first HPV infection is important because the degree of atypical nucleus hyperplasia increases with continued viral infection.  2) The most important host factor associated with the progression of cervical lesions is immune function, followed by the number of births, hormones and nutritional status.  3) The environmental co-factors affecting the progression of cervical lesions are largely consistent with the risk factors for cervical cancer, while infection with other sexually transmitted pathogens such as chlamydia also affects the risk of lesion progression.