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High-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing is important in cervical cancer screening and management algorithms. Roche (Pleasanton, Calif.) cobas hrHPV testing is commonly performed on both ThinPrep (TP) and SurePath (SP) samples, but performance of these platforms has not been fully investigated in the literature.Roche hrHPV testing was performed on 47,885 (TP = 18,295; SP = 29,590) out of 130,648 consecutive Papanicolaou tests, over 16 months; 1895 of those had interpretable biopsies.The overall hrHPV detection rates were similar in TP (13.5%) and SP (13.1%). The hrHPV positive rate was higher in SP (8.5%) than TP (7.3%, P0.0001) in women with negative cytology; the difference in other cytologic diagnosis categories was insignificant. TP samples had significantly fewer negative cytology diagnoses (7.3% versus 8.5%, P0.0001), more low-grade abnormalities in cytology and biopsies, and higher colposcopy referral rate (4.8% versus 2.7%, P0.0001) than SP. There were no differences between TP and SP in detecting ≥HSIL by hrHPV testing, cytology or biopsy. SP samples had a significantly higher rate of HPV 16/18 but a lower rate of non-16/18 hrHPV genotypes than TP.Roche cobas hrHPV testing was similar in both TP and SP platforms. The significantly lower hrHPV detection rate in cytological negative TP samples is likely related to higher cytology reporting rates for indeterminate and low-grade diagnoses in TP than SP samples. Significant differences were also observed in hrHPV genotyping results between TP and SP. Clinical risk stratification based on hrHPV testing may need to take testing platforms into consideration.

Background Previous studies have indicated that negative Papanicolaou (Pap) tests can precede high-grade cervical lesions (HGCL) on biopsy. This study aims to determine the contributing factors for cytologic discrepancy and the potential role of human papilloma virus (HPV) testing in risk evaluation of women with negative Pap tests. Methods Of 42,797 Pap tests interpreted as negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy (NILM) from March 1, 2013 to December 30, 2014, 426 had available HPV testing and follow-up biopsy. The NILM Pap tests with biopsy-confirmed HGCL were reviewed. Results Among 426 cytology-negative cases, the biopsies showed benign histology in 243 (57%), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion in 157 (37%), HGCL in 22 (5%), and endometrial adenocarcinoma in 4 (1%) cases. The sensitivity/specificity/positive predictive values (PPV) of high-risk HPV (hrHPV) and HPV16/18 tests in predicting HGCL was 91%/45%/8% and 55%/76%/11%, respectively. Upon review of NILM Pap tests with biopsy-confirmed HGCL, the contributing factors to negative cytology included absence of abnormal cells (12/21, 57%) or diagnostic high-grade cells (6/21, 29%), unsatisfactory samples (2/21, 10%), and interpretation variances (1/21, 5%). Interpretation variances in three high-risk lesions (1 HSIL, 2 ASC-H) were influenced by marked obscuring inflammation. Conclusions Our study demonstrated that 5% of women underwent co-testing with negative Pap tests had HGCL on follow-up biopsy. Absence of diagnostic cells was the leading cause for cytology discrepancy and interpretation variances were influenced by marked obscuring inflammation. HPV testing and genotyping had limited value in risk stratification due to extremely low PPV. Focused rescreening of hrHPV-positive NILM with obscuring factors may help reduce interpretation variances.

Context.— Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) is the major cause of cervical cancer. The effect of HPV infection patterns on cytologic detection of cervical lesions is unknown. Objective.— To determine the effect of HPV infection patterns on the sensitivity of cytologic detection of high-grade cervical lesions. Design.— Papanicolaou tests from 257 women with biopsy-confirmed, high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions were analyzed with respect to HPV infection patterns. Results.— Among 257 biopsy-confirmed, high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion cases, the preceding cytology showed 20 cases (8%) were benign; 166 cases (65%) were low-grade cervical lesions, including atypical squamous cell of undetermined significance and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions; and 71 cases (28%) were high-grade cervical lesions, including atypical squamous cells cannot rule out high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (atypical squamous cell–high), atypical glandular cells, and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions. In 236 cases tested for HPV, those exhibiting low-grade cervical lesions on cytology were often associated with coinfections of mixed hrHPV genotypes (31 of 40; 78%) or non-16/18 hrHPV (75/103; 73%), compared with single-genotype infections of HPV-16 (33 of 62; 53%) or HPV-18 (2 of 6; 33%) (P = .001). In contrast, high-grade cervical lesion cytomorphology tended to associate with the single-genotype infection of HPV-16 (20 of 62; 32%) or HPV-18 (3 of 6; 50%), compared with non-16/18 hrHPV (25 of 103; 24%) or multigenotype infection (8 of 40; 20%) (P = .01). Conclusions.— Our findings suggest that multigenotypic or non-16/18 hrHPV infections often produce deceptive lower-grade cytomorphology, which could result in underdiagnosis and delay of treatment. The HPV infection patterns may offer unrecognized benefit beyond HPV genotyping and should be considered during clinical risk evaluation of women with lower-grade cytology.

BACKGROUND In recent years, high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing for triaging atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance and cotesting with cytology have been implemented in clinical practice. However, clinical data for primary screening with human papillomavirus (HPV) testing alone are currently lacking. METHODS This study retrospectively reviewed the correlation of cytology, histology, and hrHPV testing through the use of a cytology laboratory quality assurance database with 130,648 Papanicolaou (Pap) tests interpreted at Houston BioReference Laboratories and Houston Methodist Hospital between March 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014. Among the 47,499 patients who had undergone cytology-HPV cotesting, 1654 underwent follow-up biopsies. RESULTS The sensitivities of the hrHPV and Pap tests were 80.8% and 81.2%, respectively, for detecting any type of cervicovaginal dysplasia and 91.3% and 90.9%, respectively, for high-grade cervicovaginal lesions. For biopsy-confirmed high-grade cervicovaginal lesions (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2+, adenocarcinoma in situ, or carcinoma; n = 253), the false-negative rates for hrHPV and Pap tests were 8.7% and 9.1%, respectively. The false-negative rate for cytology-hrHPV cotesting was only 1.2%. CONCLUSIONS In clinical practice, the hrHPV test alone is not significantly superior to the Pap test as a primary screening method for cervicovaginal lesions. The false-negative rate of the hrHPV test in detecting biopsy-confirmed high-grade cervicovaginal lesions is comparable to the rate of the Pap test. Women with cytology and hrHPV cotesting, however, have a significantly lower false-negative rate than those undergoing either test alone. Currently, cytology-HPV cotesting remains the best strategy for detecting high-grade cervicovaginal lesions. Cancer Cytopathol 2016;124:317–23. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Introduction A considerable number of patients with high-grade cervical lesions have undergone preceding human papillomavirus (HPV) tests with negative results. In the present study, we attempted to elucidate the factors potentially contributing to the findings by testing biopsied samples from these patients. Materials and methods Of the 1654 women with HPV testing and follow-up cervicovaginal biopsies from March 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014, 21 of 252 women (8.3%) with biopsy-confirmed high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) or worse had had negative results from preceding high-risk (hr)HPV tests. The corresponding paraffin blocks were tested for HPV using the Cobas 4800 system, a DNA microarray against 40 HPV genotypes, and DNA sequencing. Results HPV was detected in 20 (95%) of the 21 biopsies with HSIL or worse, including HPV16/18 in 4, non-16/18 hrHPV in 10, and non-hrHPV in 6. HPV59 and HPV45 were 2.2 times more frequently detected than HPV16/18 in these samples. One sample was negative for all 3 tests (5%). Conclusions Our study has demonstrated that 8.3% of women with biopsy-confirmed HSIL or worse had preceding test results that were negative for hrHPV. The vast majority of the biopsied samples had detectable HPV, primarily hrHPV genotypes (67%) with HPV59 and HPV45 predominance. This genotypic prevalence pattern was markedly different from those reported in the general population. Non-hrHPV genotypes contributed to 29% of the cases, and HPV-negative cases were rare. In addition to the limited Cobas testing panel and rare possible HPV-negative HSIL or worse, other possible contributing factors to the discrepancy include cytologic sampling, interference material, technical errors, and reduced L1 gene expression in high-grade lesions.

In recent years, high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing for triaging atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance and cotesting with cytology have been implemented in clinical practice. However, clinical data for primary screening with human papillomavirus (HPV) testing alone are currently lacking.This study retrospectively reviewed the correlation of cytology, histology, and hrHPV testing through the use of a cytology laboratory quality assurance database with 130,648 Papanicolaou (Pap) tests interpreted at Houston BioReference Laboratories and Houston Methodist Hospital between March 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014. Among the 47,499 patients who had undergone cytology-HPV cotesting, 1654 underwent follow-up biopsies.The sensitivities of the hrHPV and Pap tests were 80.8% and 81.2%, respectively, for detecting any type of cervicovaginal dysplasia and 91.3% and 90.9%, respectively, for high-grade cervicovaginal lesions. For biopsy-confirmed high-grade cervicovaginal lesions (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2+, adenocarcinoma in situ, or carcinoma; n = 253), the false-negative rates for hrHPV and Pap tests were 8.7% and 9.1%, respectively. The false-negative rate for cytology-hrHPV cotesting was only 1.2%.In clinical practice, the hrHPV test alone is not significantly superior to the Pap test as a primary screening method for cervicovaginal lesions. The false-negative rate of the hrHPV test in detecting biopsy-confirmed high-grade cervicovaginal lesions is comparable to the rate of the Pap test. Women with cytology and hrHPV cotesting, however, have a significantly lower false-negative rate than those undergoing either test alone. Currently, cytology-HPV cotesting remains the best strategy for detecting high-grade cervicovaginal lesions. Cancer Cytopathol 2016;124:317-23. © 2016 American Cancer Society.