Semi-quantitative HPV viral load in patients with ASC-US cytology: viral load correlates strongly with the presence of CIN, but only weakly with its severity

Semi‐quantitative HPV viral load in patients with ASC‐US cytology: viral load correlates strongly with the presence of CIN, but only weakly with its severity

“…should be made. In our experience and in the article by Lee et al ., a significant correlation between increasing values of hrHPV load expressed as RLUs and the severity of CIN has been demonstrated in ASC‐US cases: this is the key point of the issue. Indeed, we reported a 71% prevalence of CIN2/CIN3 in cases with relative light units to cut‐off (RLU/CO) > 10, compared with 4% in cases with RLU/CO < 10 ( P = 0.001); moreover, we reported that only one case of CIN3 was detected in the latter subgroup.…”

“…Indeed, we reported a 71% prevalence of CIN2/CIN3 in cases with relative light units to cut‐off (RLU/CO) > 10, compared with 4% in cases with RLU/CO < 10 ( P = 0.001); moreover, we reported that only one case of CIN3 was detected in the latter subgroup. Consistently, Lee et al . reported a significant difference in terms of median RLU/CO values among negative, CIN1 and CIN2+ cases ( P < 0.001).…”

“…As we have investigated this same issue and reported our results in previously published articles, in our opinion, some comments with regard to the conclusions of Lee et al . should be made.…”

“…Dear Editor, The article by Lee et al . interestingly contributes to the strong worldwide effort of improving the performance of diagnostic tools for the prevention of cervical cancer.…”

“…In contrast, HPV‐DNA testing has been widely demonstrated to lack specificity, resulting in high rates of false‐positive cases and high referral rates to second‐level triage; indeed, several studies have addressed the issue of improving the specificity of the test. In their study, Lee et al . investigated the prognostic importance of indirect HPV viral load determination through the analysis of the chemiluminescent relative light unit (RLU) positivity of the Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) assay.…”