Comparison Between Two Detection Methods for HPV16,HPV18 and P16Ink4a Biomarkers in Diagnosis of Abnormal Cervical Cytology

Abstract

<br /> <strong><span style="font-size: small;">Background: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in many populations. While the Pap smear is a well established screening test it suffers from both false-positive and false-negative results in diagnosis of cancers and precancerous states. In this study, immunocytochemistry of the P16 biomarker and HPV-PCR were compared for their diagnostic potential. </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Materials and methods: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">In the study, we obtained pairs of specimens from 45 women with cervical dysplasia. One sample was placed in a liquid-based solution, and processed for staining of sections with antibodies to P16. HPV-PCR was performed on the other and the results obtained were analyzed by T-test using SPSS v. 15. </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Results: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Using HPV-PCR 71% of the samples were found to be infected with either HPV 16 or HPV 18, </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">and the rate of infection did not have a statistically significant relationship with higher grades of dysplasia (p= 0.253). </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">In contrast, with immunocytochemistry evaluation of P16, 64% of the specimens were positive, but the percentage of </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">positive results significantly increased with higher grades of dysplasia (p= 0.0001). </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Conclusion: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Employment of the P16 marker as an optional test might be preferable over HPV-PCR for cervical dysplasia in our geographical region. </span></span>