Evaluation of p16/Ki-67 dual-stain cytology performed on self-collected vaginal and clinician-collected cervical specimens for the detection of cervical pre-cancer

Variables that impact HPV test accuracy during vaginal self collection workflow for cervical cancer screening

Vaginal self collection (SC) is safe and effective for human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and can increase cervical cancer screening coverage for underserved women. To better understand the impact of SC methodology on HPV test outcomes, empirical testing was conducted using different swab collection workflows. Deposition of the collection swab into resuspension buffer resulted in a 2.4-cycle reduction in threshold detection of human beta-hemoglobin during PCR when compared to "swirl-and-toss". In addition, reducing the swab resuspension volume from 10 mL to 3 mL resulted in a 2.6-cycle reduction in threshold detection of human beta-globin. A systematic literature search (01/01/2020 to 08/02/2023) of Ovid Medline and Embase, followed by data extraction and analysis, was conducted to further assess the impact of resuspension volume on performance following SC. HPV test performance for SC, relative to clinician collection (CC), was calculated for detection of cervical pre-cancer. Data were stratified by the resuspension volume ratio of SC to CC being either ≥ 1.0 or < 1.0. SC with a volume ratio of ≥ 1.0 and < 1.0 had a relative ≥ CIN2 sensitivity of 92.0 % (95 % CI: 88.0, 96.0) and 97.0 % (95 % CI: 94.0, 100), respectively. Taken together, these results suggest that SC conditions can be modified to optimize sample recovery and performance, as part of cervical cancer screening.

Enhancing Cervical Cancer Screening: Review of p16/Ki-67 Dual Staining as a Promising Triage Strategy

Cervical cancer, primarily caused by high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) types 16 and 18, is a major global health concern. Persistent HR-HPV infection can progress from reversible precancerous lesions to invasive cervical cancer, which is driven by the oncogenic activity of human papillomavirus (HPV) genes, particularly E6 and E7. Traditional screening methods, including cytology and HPV testing, have limited sensitivity and specificity. This review explores the application of p16/Ki-67 dual-staining cytology for cervical cancer screening. This advanced immunocytochemical method allows for simultaneously detecting p16 and Ki-67 proteins within cervical epithelial cells, offering a more specific approach for triaging HPV-positive women. Dual staining and traditional methods are compared, demonstrating their high sensitivity and negative predictive value but low specificity. The increased sensitivity of dual staining results in higher detection rates of CIN2+ lesions, which is crucial for preventing cervical cancer progression. However, its low specificity may lead to increased false-positive results and unnecessary biopsies. The implications of integrating dual staining into contemporary screening strategies, particularly considering the evolving landscape of HPV vaccination and changes in HPV genotype prevalence, are also discussed. New guidelines and further research are necessary to elucidate the long-term effects of integrating dual staining into screening protocols.

Point-of-care HPV DNA testing of self-collected specimens and same-day thermal ablation for the early detection and treatment of cervical pre-cancer in women in Papua New Guinea: a prospective, single-arm intervention trial (HPV-STAT)

BACKGROUND

WHO recommends human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and same-day treatment for cervical screening in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs); however, few published data exist on the validity of the strategy. We aimed to evaluate the clinical performance, treatment completion rates, adverse events profile, and acceptability of a fully integrated strategy, comprising point-of-care HPV DNA testing of self-collected specimens and same-day thermal ablation, for screening of cervical cancer in women in Papua New Guinea.

METHODS

HPV-STAT was a large-scale, prospective, single-arm intervention trial conducted at two clinical sites in Papua New Guinea. Cervical screening clinics with an on-site consultant gynaecologist were selected in consultation with national and provincial health authorities, church health services, and local stakeholders. Eligible participants were women aged 30-59 years attending cervical screening services at the two clinics, who were willing to comply with study procedures and able to provide written informed consent. Women self-collected vaginal specimens for point-of-care GeneXpert testing (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) for oncogenic HPV types. Women testing positive for HPV underwent pelvic examination followed by same-day thermal ablation or referral for gynaecology review. All HPV-positive women and a 15% random sample of HPV-negative women provided a clinician-collected cervical specimen for liquid-based cytology. The primary outcome was clinical performance (ie, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value [PPV], and negative predictive value [NPV]) of the strategy for the detection of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) or worse. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, ISRCTN13476702.

FINDINGS

Between June 5, 2018, and Jan 6, 2020, we recruited 4285 women, 3638 (84·9%) of whom tested negative for HPV and 647 (15·1%) tested positive for one or more oncogenic HPV type. Sensitivity of the algorithm to detect HSIL or worse was 85·4% (95% CI 81·0-89·6), with specificity 89·6% (88·6-90·6), PPV 35·2% (31·6-39·0), and NPV 98·9% (98·6-99·2). Among HPV-positive women, 602 (93·0%) received same-day thermal ablation and 42 (6·5%) were referred for gynaecology review, 37 (88·1%) of whom attended. Acceptability was high among both HPV-positive and HPV-negative women. Among the 329 HPV-positive women who attended a 3-month follow-up visit, 51 (15·5%) reported mild adverse symptoms that resolved in all cases by the follow-up visit. There were no serious adverse events.

INTERPRETATION

We conducted the first real-world evaluation of a fully integrated point-of-care HPV self-collect, test, and treat strategy for same-day cervical screening in a LMIC and found it to be effective, acceptable, and safe when implemented at scale in primary health-care facilities in Papua New Guinea. Our findings support the introduction and scale-up of HPV screening and treatment for the control and elimination of cervical cancer in LMICs, as recommended by WHO.

FUNDING

Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

A positive HPV test with positive p16/Ki-67 double staining in self-sampled vaginal material is an accurate tool to detect women at risk for cervical cancer

BACKGROUND

The development of efficient strategies for managing high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV)-positive women is a major challenge when human papillomavirus-based primary screening is being performed. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of HR-HPV testing based on self-collection (SC) and HR-HPV testing based on collection by a health professional (HP) and to assess the potential usefulness of HR-HPV testing combined with testing with the biomarkers p16/Ki-67, α-mannosidase, and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2).

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study of 232 women admitted for colposcopy because of an abnormal Papanicolaou smear. The collected material underwent liquid-based cytology, HR-HPV detection, and immunocytochemical testing (p16/Ki-67, α-mannosidase, and SOD2). The gold standard was the histopathological result; the positive reference was CIN2+.

RESULTS

The overall accuracy of HR-HPV testing was 76.6%; the results for the SC group (78.1%) and the HP group (75.2%) were similar. The positive predictive values (HP, 76.5%; SC, 80.0%), the negative predictive values (HP, 66.7%; SC, 64.3%), the positive likelihood values (HP, 1.35; SC, 1.36), and the negative likelihood values (HP, 0.21; SC, 0.19) were also similar. p16/Ki-67 showed higher sensitivity than the other 2 biomarkers: 78.1% versus 45.8% for α-mannosidase and 44.5% for SOD2. The specificities of the biomarkers were equivalent: 71.4% for p16/Ki-67, 77.8% for α-mannosidase, and 71.2% for SOD2. In the HP group, accuracy also leaned more heavily toward the final score (using α-mannosidase and SOD2) without statistical significance (80.8% vs 77.9%). The contrast with the SC group yielded the same level of accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

SC, when associated with testing with biomarkers, is as accurate as collection by HPs in the detection of women at risk for cervical cancer.

Cervical Cancer Screening Postpandemic: Self-Sampling Opportunities to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer

The persisting burden of cervical cancer in underserved populations and low-resource regions worldwide, worsened by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, requires proactive strategies and expanded screening options to maintain and improve screening coverage and its effects on incidence and mortality from cervical cancer. Self-sampling as a screening strategy has unique advantages from both a public health and individual patient perspective. Some of the barriers to screening can be mitigated by self-sampling, and resources can be better allocated to patients at the highest risk of developing cervical cancer. This review summarizes the implementation options for self-sampling and associated challenges, evidence in support of self-sampling, the available devices, and opportunities for expansion beyond human papillomavirus testing.

HPV58 E7 Protein Expression Profile in Cervical Cancer and CIN with Immunohistochemistry

Background: The persistent infection of high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) is one of the most common causes of cervical cancer worldwide, and HPV type 58 (HPV58) is the third most common HPV type in eastern Asia. The E7 oncoprotein is constitutively expressed in HPV58-associated cervical cancer cells and plays a key role during tumorigenesis. This study aimed to assess the HPV58 E7 protein expression in the tissues of cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).

Methods: A total of 67 HPV58-positive cervical samples were collected, including 25 cervical cancer samples and 42 CIN samples. All the tissues were examined by HPV58 E7, p16^INK4a and Ki67 immunohistochemistry (IHC). At last, we analyzed their association with clinical and pathological variables.

Results: HPV58 E7 expression was detected in 96% of the HPV58 DNA-positive cervical cancer tissues and 85.7% of HPV58-positive CIN tissues. 65 samples of cervical cancer and CIN tissues had p16-positive staining, while 59 samples were Ki-67 positive.

Conclusions: HPV58 E7 protein is highly expressed in both cervical cancer and CIN tissues. HPV58 E7 IHC could be sensitive and specific for evaluating HPV-driven cervical cancer and pre-cancerous lesions, in combination with p16 and Ki-67 IHC.

AF-SENet: Classification of Cancer in Cervical Tissue Pathological Images Based on Fusing Deep Convolution Features

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the world. Whole-slide images (WSIs) are an important standard for the diagnosis of cervical cancer. Missed diagnoses and misdiagnoses often occur due to the high similarity in pathological cervical images, the large number of readings, the long reading time, and the insufficient experience levels of pathologists. Existing models have insufficient feature extraction and representation capabilities, and they suffer from insufficient pathological classification. Therefore, this work first designs an image processing algorithm for data augmentation. Second, the deep convolutional features are extracted by fine-tuning pre-trained deep network models, including ResNet50 v2, DenseNet121, Inception v3, VGGNet19, and Inception-ResNet, and then local binary patterns and a histogram of the oriented gradient to extract traditional image features are used. Third, the features extracted by the fine-tuned models are serially fused according to the feature representation ability parameters and the accuracy of multiple experiments proposed in this paper, and spectral embedding is used for dimension reduction. Finally, the fused features are inputted into the Analysis of Variance-F value-Spectral Embedding Net (AF-SENet) for classification. There are four different pathological images of the dataset: normal, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), and cancer. The dataset is divided into a training set (90%) and a test set (10%). The serial fusion effect of the deep features extracted by Resnet50v2 and DenseNet121 (C₅) is the best, with average classification accuracy reaching 95.33%, which is 1.07% higher than ResNet50 v2 and 1.05% higher than DenseNet121. The recognition ability is significantly improved, especially in LSIL, reaching 90.89%, which is 2.88% higher than ResNet50 v2 and 2.1% higher than DenseNet121. Thus, this method significantly improves the accuracy and generalization ability of pathological cervical WSI recognition by fusing deep features.

Novel concepts in cervical cancer screening: a comparison of VIA, HPV DNA test and p16INK4a/Ki-67 dual stain cytology in Western Kenya

BACKGROUND

Screening of unvaccinated women remains essential to mitigate the high morbidity/mortality of cervical cancer. Here, we compared visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), recommended by WHO as the most cost-effective screening approach in LMICs, with HPV-based screening, and usage of p16INK4a/Ki-67 dual stain cytology.

METHODS

We prospectively enrolled women participating in a VIA-based cervical cancer screening program in two peri-urban health centers of Kenya. Consenting women had a VIA examination preceded by collection of a liquid-based cytology sample from the cervix stored in PreservCyt medium (Hologic®). Analysis of all samples included a hrHPV DNA test and evaluation of a p16INK4a /Ki-67 (CINtecPLUS®) dual stained slide that was prepared using the ThinPrep® 2000 Processor and evaluated by a pathologist trained in the methodology.

RESULTS

In 701 of a total of 800 women aged 18-64 years, all three investigations were performed and data could be analyzed. The HPV, VIA and dual stain cytology positivity were 33%, 7%, and 2% respectively. The HPV positivity rate of VIA positive cases was 32%. The five most common HPV types were HPV16, 52, 68, 58 and 35. The OR among HIV infected women of an HPV infection, VIA positivity and positive dual stain cytology were 2.6 (95%CI 1.5-4.3), 1.9 (95%CI 0.89-4.4) and 3.4 (95%CI 1.07-10.9) respectively. The sensitivity of VIA to detect a p16INK4a/Ki-67 positive transforming infection was 13% (95%CI 2-38).

CONCLUSIONS

Primary HPV testing appears feasible and should be considered as a primary screening test also in LMICs. The poor sensitivity of VIA renders it unsuitable as a triage test for HPV positive women. The utility of p16INK4a/Ki-67 dual stain cytology as a triage test for HPV positive women in LMICs should be further studied.