[Detection of human papilloma virus (HPV) in liquid-based cervical samples. Correlation with protein p16INK4a...

The liquid-based cervical cytology improves the quality of the sample and the residual sample could be used efficiently to carry out complementary tests, such as the detection of HPV DNA and the immunocytochemical biomarkers study. The purpose of this study was to correlate the presence of HPV and immunoexpression of p16INK4a in liquid-based cervical samples to examine the utility of these new tools in the detection of cervical cancer. The included patients (n = 67) presented an abnormal cytology or previous cervical pathology. The HPV detection and genotyping were carried out with PCR-SPF10/LiPA (INNOLiPA Extra Amp) and for p16INK4a immunodetection was used antibody clone E6H4. The conventional cytology provided the same cytologic interpretations that those of liquid-based cytology. The overall HPV prevalence was 43.3% (29/67). HPV16 was the most frequent viral type (31.03%) and 48.3% of the cases were infected with multiple HPV types. p16INK4a immunoexpression was observed in 35.8% of liquid-based cytological samples and this was significantly (p < 0.020) associated to the HPV presence. These results support the evidence that the implementation of new technologies in the daily routine of the laboratory, contribute significantly in the early detection of cervical cancer and provide important data to help in the patient's efficient management. The combined use of HPV detection and p16INK4a expression could be used for evaluation of patients with more risk to develop significant cervical lesions.