Objective: This study aimed to investigate the osteopontin levels in HPV-positive and HPV-negative cervical tissues and evaluate the clinical significance of osteopontin as a prognostic biomarker.

Methods: A total of 82 individuals admitted to the outpatient clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Mengücek Gazi Training and Research Hospital in Turkey and underwent cervical cancer screening between June 2015 and April 2017 were included in the study. Cervicovaginal swabs were collected according to the standard procedure. A slide for traditional Pap cytology was prepared and stained according to standard protocols, and the results were categorized according to the 2004 Bethesda classification system. All cervical specimens were analyzed using the Digene® HC2 High-Risk HPV DNA Kit. Genotyping was performed on the samples with HPV DNA positivity with the Clark kit. Osteopontin levels of 41 HPV positive patients and 41 HPV negative control were investigated in tissue samples with an ELISA kit.

Results: The osteopontin levels were found to be 31.55 ± 7.11 ng/ml and 28.81 ± 5.44 ng/ml in the study and control groups, respectively, which indicated a statistically significant difference between the groups (p=0.048). There was no statistically significant difference between the osteopontin level and age, delivery method, history of disease, surgical method, HPV type, preoperative and postoperative pathology, gravida and parity (p>0.05).

Conclusion: The detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in only five of 41 HPV-positive patients constitutes a limitation for this study. Although the level of osteopontin was high in HPV-positive patients, further studies with more cervical intraepithelial neoplasia cases are required.