HYBRID-CAPTURE-II, A NEW SENSITIVE TEST FOR HUMAN-PAPILLOMAVIRUS DETECTION - COMPARISON WITH HYBRID-CAPTURE-I AND PCR RESULTS IN CERVICAL LESIONS

Aim-To test a new assay for the detection of human papillomavirus (HPV ) DNA, hybrid capture II (HC II), compared with the previous commercia lised hybrid capture I (HC I) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) resu lts on cervical scrapes from fresh cone excision biopsy samples. Metho ds The three methods were used on cervical scrapes from 42 fresh cone excision biopsy samples. There were nine metaplastic and inflammatory lesions, five low grade lesions, and 28 high grade lesions. PCR was pe rformed using the general primers GP5+/GP6+. The viral load of high ri sk HPV DNA was estimated by the ratio of relative Light units to posit ive control values in the samples. Results-The sensitivity of HC I for the detection of high grade lesions was 71.4%, while it was 92.8% for HC II and 96.4% for the PCR. Considering only the absence of detectab le cervical in situ neoplasia, the specificity was 88.9% for HC I, 66. 7% for HC II, and 66.7% for PCR. With HC II, for a ratio of cervical s ample to normal control of > 200, the sensitivity for the detection of high grade lesion was only 34.6% with a specificity of 66.7%. Conclus ions-HPV detection with the HC II assay is more sensitive than the pre vious HC I and represents a more convenient and easier test than PCR f or routine use. Nevertheless the viral load estimated with this test c annot be a reliable predictive indicator of high grade lesions.