Publication
Title
Viral load of high-risk human papillomaviruses as reliable clinical predictor for the presence of cervical lesions
Author
Institution/Organisation
VALGENT Study Group
Abstract
Background: Infections with high-risk human papillomaviruses (Hr-HPV) can cause malignant transformation of the human cervical epithelium. HPV DNA tests generally are very sensitive to detect cervical neoplastic lesions but also identify transient HPV infections. As a consequence, the specificity and positive predictive value are low. Methods: We analyzed viral load of Hr- and possibly Hr-HPV types more than seven orders of magnitude (on a log10 scale) in 999 consecutive BD-SurePath liquid-based cervical cytology samples from routine cervical screening enriched with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (n = 100), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL; n = 100), and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL; n = 97) using type-specific multiplex quantitative real-time PCR and the BSGP5+/6+-PCR/MPG assay. In the 36-month follow-up, 79 histologically verified CIN2+ and 797 double-negative cytology cases were identified. Results: Viral loads in LSIL and HSIL were significantly increased compared with no intraepithelial lesion or malignancy in both the quantitative PCR (qPCR) and BSGP5+/6+-PCR/MPG assay (P < 0.0001). The mean viral loads in LSIL and HSIL were not significantly different. Using a newly determined high viral load cut off for 14 Hr-HPV types, the sensitivity for prevalent CIN3+ remained at 100% for both assays compared with the minimal detection threshold. The specificity (corresponding to double-negative cytology at subsequent screening episodes) increased substantially (qPCR, from 91.1% to 95.7%; BSGP5+/6+-PCR/MPG, from 79.8% to 96.2%). Conclusions: Compared with DNA positivity alone, high Hr-HPV viral loads could reduce the amount of false positive results detected by the BSGP5+/6+-PCR/MPG and qPCR by 81.4% and 52.1%, respectively.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers and prevention / American Association for Cancer Research. - Baltimore, Md, 1991, currens
Publication
Baltimore, Md : 2013
ISSN
1055-9965 [print]
1538-7755 [online]
DOI
10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-12-1067
Volume/pages
22 :3 (2013) , p. 406-414
ISI
000316047600010
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 08.04.2013
Last edited 04.03.2024
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