Related Experiment Video For cervical cancer
Updated: Jul 30, 2025
Chromogenic In Situ Hybridization as a Tool for HPV-Related Head and Neck Cancer Diagnosis
Published on: June 14, 2019
Circulating HPV DNA as a Biomarker for Pre-Invasive and Early Invasive Cervical Cancer: A Feasibility Study
Stacey J Bryan1, Jen Lee2,3, Richard Gunu4
1UCL Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women's Health, Faculty of Population Health Sciences, University College London, Medical School Building, 74 Huntley Street, London WC1E 6AU, UK.
Background:
High-risk HPV infection is responsible for >99% of cervix cancers (CC). In persistent infections that lead to cancer, the tumour breaches the basement membrane, releasing HPV-DNA into the bloodstream (cHPV-DNA). A next-generation sequencing assay (NGS) for detection of plasma HPV circulating DNA (cHPV-DNA) has demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity in patients with locally advanced cervix cancers. We hypothesised that cHPV-DNA is detectable in early invasive cervical cancers but not in pre-invasive lesions (CIN).
Methods:
Blood samples were collected from patients with CIN (n = 52) and FIGO stage 1A-1B CC (n = 12) prior to treatment and at follow-up. DNA extraction from plasma, followed by NGS, was used for the detection of cHPV-DNA.
Results:
None of the patients with pre-invasive lesions were positive for CHPV-DNA. In invasive tumours, plasma from one patient (10%) reached the threshold of positivity for cHPV-DNA in plasma.
Conclusion:
Low detection of cHPV-DNA in early CC may be explained by small tumour size, poorer access to lymphatics and circulation, and therefore little shedding of cHPV-DNA in plasma at detectable levels. The detection rate of cHPV-DNA in patients with early invasive cervix cancer using even the most sensitive of currently available technologies lacks adequate sensitivity for clinical utility.
