HPV DNA test identifies cervical pre-cancerous disease in developing countries with 90% su...(lf hours. The short assay time allows t...)

Date:9/21/2008

lf hours. The short assay time allows testing and clinical follow-up on the same day. The prototype was used in an outcomes study in Shanxi province, China with 2,388 local women aged 30 to 54. The ability of the careHPV test to detect precancerous cells was found to be 90.0 per cent, whilst 84.2 per cent of the women without precancerous disease were identified as negative by the test.

Professor Lorincz said: "The clinical performance of my new HPV test in China appears promising, it is based on decades of research and I hope it will be employed widely to save the lives of millions of women. The new test needs to be studied in many countries to confirm its suitability for cervical cancer screening on the global stage"

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women with about 500,000 new cases and 300,000 deaths every year. Almost 100 per cent of these cancers are caused by carcinogenic Human Papilloma Virus and - because it is possible to stop the infectious cycle and therefore the disease - are completely preventable. Vaccination against HPV shows promise for future generations and is currently being implemented in the UK, mostly in young school-aged girls. However, the current vaccine has some significant limitations because it is most effective against only two HPV types (16 and 18) that account for approximately 75 per cent of cervical cancers. In addition the vaccine is ineffective in women who have been exposed to the virus (a majority of women over the age of about 20). Thus screening remains the main hope for the current generation of women aged 20 years or above and will need to be continued for at least the next 30 years.

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Contact: Alex Fernandes a.fernandes@qmul.ac.uk 020-782-227-910 Queen Mary, University of London Source:Eurekalert

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