Prophylaxis and early detection of HPV-related neoplasia

The balance between analytical (low) and clinical (high) sensitivity is crucial for the specificity of a routine HPV test as limited specificity will be harmful due to unnecessary treatment of healthy women. Up to now HPV diagnostics is mainly based on DNA detection for which target and signal amplification methods are available. PCR techniques can be divided into type-specific and consensus PCRs. Due to its high clinical sensitivity and its relatively high specificity the HC2 test is still regarded as the gold standard in routine HPV testing. It hybridizes 13 (near) full-length stabilized RNA probes of high-risk HPV types to denatured target DNA followed by detection via antibodies and chemiluminescence. To avoid costly validation studies for each new HPV test standards for evaluation have been defined. Recently several new HPV detection assays have been commercialized. They all show promising data in first published studies but still await full validation according to the criteria mentioned above. Among them only the cobas HPV test has already been fully validated for use in triage and as adjunct to cytology. HPV 16 and 18 confer a much higher risk for development of a CIN 2+ compared to the other HPV high-risk types. It is therefore appropriate to test for these HPV types independently. Apart from that testing for individual HPV types is of very limited clinical value up to now. HPV RNA testing is a promising option with potentially higher specificity. As a first system, the APTIMA test has now received an FDA approval.