Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 5, 2025
Use of Interferon-γ Enzyme-linked Immunospot Assay to Characterize Novel T-cell Epitopes of Human Papillomavirus
Published on: March 8, 2012
Improving human papillomavirus (HPV) testing in the cervical cancer elimination era: The 2021 HPV LabNet
Laila Sara Arroyo Mühr1, Carina Eklund1, Camilla Lagheden1
1Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, 141 86, Sweden.
Background:
Proficient Human Papillomavirus (HPV) genotyping services are essential to support HPV and cervical cancer elimination strategies, in particular to support HPV vaccine research.
Objectives:
To perform a global HPV genotyping proficiency study, with evaluation in relation to previous proficiency studies.
Study Design:
The proficiency panel contained 44 coded samples (40 samples containing one or more purified HPV types (HPV6/11/16/18/31/33/35/39/45/51/52/56/58/59/68a/68b) in human DNA, 1 human DNA control and 3 DNA extraction controls). Proficiency required detection of both single and multiple infections of 50 International Units of HPV 16/18, of 500 genome equivalents for other HPV types and no false positivity.
Results:
One hundred and thirty-two laboratories submitted 211 datasets. Most assays used (182/211 datasets) were commercially available. An all-time high of 75% of the datasets were 100% proficient. One or more false positives were found in 17.5% of datasets. Among laboratories who participated in the 2019 proficiency study, full proficiency increased from 25% in 2019 to 60% in 2021. The high overall proficiency was mostly attributable to a large number of new laboratories, which used similar assays.
Conclusions:
The worldwide deterioration in comparability and reliability of HPV testing found in 2019 is now reversed and an overall increase in proficiency is found.
