Comparison of Detection Sensitivity for Human Papillomavirus between Self-collected Vaginal Swabs and Physician-collected Cervical Swabs by Electrochemical DNA Chip

Abstract

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing is an effective method to screen for precancerous changes in the cervix. Samples from self-collection rather than Pap smear can potentially be used to test for HPV as they are more acceptable and preferred for use in certain settings. The objective of this study was to compare HPV DNA testing from self-collected vaginal swabs and physician-collected cervical swabs. Materials and Methods: A total of 101 self-collected vaginal and physician-collected cervical swabs of known cytology from Thai women were tested by electrochemical DNA chip assay. The specimens were divided into 4 groups: 29 with normal cytology, 14 with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), 48 with lowgrade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), and 10 with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). Results: Positive detection rates of HPV from self-collected swabs were similar to those from physician-collected swabs. Among specimens with abnormal cytology, HPV was found in 50% of self-collected swabs and 47.2% of physician-collected swabs. In specimens with normal cytology, 17.2% of self-collected swabs and 24.1% of physician-collected swabs were positive for HPV. Concordance was relatively high between results from selfcollected and physician-collected samples. The most common HPV genotype detected was HPV 51. Conclusions: HPV DNA testing using self-collected swabs is a feasible alternative to encourage and increase screening for cervical cancer in a population who might otherwise avoid this important preventive examination due to embarrassment, discomfort, and anxiety.

Validity of Vaginal Self-Collected Samples for Human Papillomavirus Deoxyribonucleic Acid Detection among Women in Rural Delta State, Nigeria

“…Sensitivity was 86.4% while specificity was 94.6%. Our finding is comparable to sensitivity and specificity of 98.3% and 87.3% in China [18], 91.1% and 90% in Egypt [19], 54% and 97.8% in India [20], 62.5% and 93.5% in Mexico [13], 92.6% and 95.9% in Ghana [22].…”

Acceptability and Concordance of Self- Versus Clinician- Sampling for HPV Testing among Rural South Indian Women

“…This study found comparable performance and accuracy of selfsampling for detection of high-risk HPV DNA. There have been several studies comparing HPV screening results from self-collected and clinician-collected specimens in low-and middle-income countries with all demonstrating high levels of agreement (Bhatla et al, 2009;Quincy et al, 2012;Verma and Khanna, 2013;Nilyanimit et al, 2014;Rosenbaum et al, 2014;Adamson et al, 2015 al., 2016). A review and meta-analysis of 21 studies did not detect statistically significant difference in sensitivity of self-collected specimens compared to clinician-collected specimens.…”

Electrochemical biosensors for analysis of DNA point mutations in cancer research

“…Indeed, the access to human clinical samples does not represent an insurmountable obstacle, as demonstrated by EC works that successfully employed their assays into patient samples with satisfactory results [69,70,73,75,78,141]. It would be highly beneficial if some EC strategy is applied to a larger cohort of patients (tens or even hundreds) and compared with a standard method of detection with rigorous statistics; this feature of EC assays is currently in its infancy [99,124,142], but would increase an impact of electrochemistry in clinical diagnostics.…”