Human papillomavirus: increased testing for patients at risk of cervical cancer

Roche’s leading-edge and fully automated cobas human papillomavirus (HPV) test, which runs on the cobas 4800 system, will provide a fast turnaround of cervical smear samples potentially from thousands of women per year, sent to the London-based laboratory from clinicians from all over the country. The testing at Unilabs-IHS will not only be conducted as a follow-up to the traditional Papanicolaou cervical smear method to check ambiguous results, it will also be used upon request in primary screening for cervical precancer, giving a greater chance to avoid disease progression.

Cervical cancer and HPV
Persistent infection with HPV is the cause of cervical cancer in women, with the virus being found in 99.7% of cervical cancers worldwide. Of the more than 118 different types of HPV, the cobas HPV test identifies the 14 high-risk types associated with the development of cervical cancer and its precursor lesions. Types 16 and 18 have been identified as the highest risk genotypes, detected in approximately 70% of cervical cancers. Nucleic acid (DNA) testing is a sensitive and non-invasive method for determining the presence of HPV infection. The World Health Organization estimates that there are 470,000 new cases of cervical cancer annually.

Huge benefits
The ultra-high reliability of the cobas HPV test will be of huge benefit to clinicians and patients alike, due to the test’s genotyping method that identifies HPV genotypes 16 and 18, the highest risk types associated with the development of cervical cancer and its precursor lesions, while simultaneously identifying 12 other high-risk HPV types. This technology provides better risk stratification of patients, enabling a more sensitive and efficient approach to cervical screening.