Abstract: Analysis of the Relationship between Multiple HPV Infections and ClinicopathologicCharacteristics in Patients with Uterine Cervical CancerYang LIU1, Zhiqiang LING1, Lu CHEN1, Ping ZHANG1, Yue HU2, Yu ZHAO2Correspondence to: Lu CHEN, E-mail: lingzq@hotmail.com1Zhejiang Cancer Research Institute, Department of Gynecological Oncology, Zhejiang Provincial Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou 310022,China2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou 325000, Zhejiang,ChinaThis work was supported by the International Corporation Project of Wenzhou Municipal Bureau of Science and Technology (No.H20070043)Abstract Objective: Human papillomavirus ( HPV ) has become a point of interest in studies of oncogenic viruses. Over 200genotypes of HPV have been found. However, the genotypic distribution in uterine cervix cancer (UCC) remains unknown. The aim ofthis study was to investigate the infection rate of HPV and genotype distributions in UCC, and to discuss the relationship between multi-ple HPV infections and clinicopathological features in UCC patients. Methods: The HPV genotypes were detected in 171 UCC patientstreated in Zhejiang Provincial Cancer Hospital between September 2008 and April 2009. The genetic diagnosis and HPV genotypingwere conducted using flow-through hybridization and gene chip technology ( HybriMax ). The difference among the age, clinical stag-es, clinicopathologic types and nodal metastasis in the patients with multiple, single and absent HPV infection were compared and ana-lyzed. Results: HPV infection was found in 122 of 171 ( 71.35 %, 122/171 ) UCC patients, of which 103 ( 60.2 %, 103/171 ) had singleHPV infection and 19 ( 11.1 %, 19/171 ) had multiple infections. Dual infection was the most common of the multiple HPV infectionsand was found in 15 patients; triple infection was found in 2 patients and quadruple infection was found in another 2 patients. HPV16,HPV18 and HPV58 were the most common types of single infection, and HPV16+HPV58 and HPV16+HPV52 were most frequentlyseen in multiple HPV infections. HPV16 was the major type of HPV infection both in the multiply and singly infected patients. The ra-tio of multiple HPV infection was higher in the patients aged ≥52 years than in those < 52, with significant differences between thetwo groups ( P < 0.05 ). However, there were no differences in clinical staging, pathologic type, and nodal metastasis among patientswith multiple and single infections or those without HPV infection. Conclusion: HPV multiple infection status is related to age but is not related to other prognostic indicators such as clinical stage, pathological type, or lymph node metastasis. HybriMax flow-throughhybridization and gene chip technology is suited to clinical screening for HPV infection and genotype.Keywords Uterine cervix cancer; Human papillomavirus (HPV); Genotype; Multiple infections