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Updated: Mar 7, 2026
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Use of Interferon-γ Enzyme-linked Immunospot Assay to Characterize Novel T-cell Epitopes of Human Papillomavirus
Published on: March 8, 2012
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[Development and distribution of an inter-laboratory comparison test for HPV testing].
Marty Poy1, Kilian Jacquot1, Sandy Gross2
1Centre national de référence Papillomavirus, CHU de Besançon, Besançon, France.
Virologie (Montrouge, France)
|March 6, 2026
Summary
This study assessed HPV test reproducibility for cervical cancer screening in France. While HPV16/18 were consistently detected, other HPV types showed variability between labs and kits, impacting screening consistency.
Area of Science:
- Medical Diagnostics
- Virology
- Public Health
Background:
- Cervical cancer screening relies on Human Papillomavirus (HPV) testing.
- Optimal and consistent screening requires high performance and inter-laboratory reproducibility of HPV tests.
- Variability in HPV test performance could impact screening effectiveness across France.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the inter-laboratory reproducibility of HPV tests used in French cervical cancer screening.
- To assess the performance of different commercial HPV testing kits across multiple laboratories.
- To identify potential variations in the detection of specific HPV genotypes.
Main Methods:
- Development and distribution of an Inter-Laboratory Comparison (ILC) test panel to 25 volunteer laboratories.
- The panel included samples with HPV-, HPV16+, HPV18+ cells, and HPV33, 39, 52, 56 plasmids.
- Twenty-three laboratories performed HPV screening using various commercial kits.
Main Results:
- All participating laboratories consistently detected HPV16 and HPV18 genotypes.
- Detection of HPV33, 39, 52, and 56 (in plasmid form and lower quantities) was uneven across laboratories and kits.
- Variations in detecting non-HPV16/18 genotypes were observed, dependent on the specific kit and laboratory.
Conclusions:
- HPV tests demonstrate consistent detection for HPV16 and HPV18.
- Inter-laboratory variability exists for detecting less common HPV genotypes, influenced by commercial kits.
- These variations may not necessarily compromise the overall effectiveness of cervical cancer screening programs.
