Resumen
Persistent infection with high-risk HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer. However, the changes in epigenetics and viral load (VL) during persistent HPV infection are not well understood. This study selected individuals with a persistent HPV infection but without developing high-grade cervical lesions, analyzed the changes in PAX1/JAM3 methylation and VL according to the duration of HPV infection, and found that in women with HPV infections persisting for more than 3 years, there is a notable increase in the methylation levels of PAX1/JAM3, which could be used as cumulative evidence of persistent HPV infection before the occurrence of precancerous lesions. HPV infection persisting for more than 3 years is more likely to be associated with vaginal lesions, and HPV VL could be used as an indicative biomarker for concurrent cervical?vaginal lesions, which might be helpful to provide a clinical perspective for monitoring and intervention of individuals with persistent HPV infection.