[Molecular diagnosis of HPV infections]

Carcinogenic human papillomaviruses (HPV) cause the majority of cervical cancers and other anogenital cancers. Large randomized trials have shown that HPV testing can be efficiently used for primary cervical cancer screening. Other applications include the triage of abnormal cytology results and the follow-up of women after treatment. Many assays have been developed to measure DNA, RNA and proteins of HPV and the various tests can have very different applications. It is important to rigorously validate HPV assays before they are implemented in screening or clinical care.