Human papillomavirus (HPV) detection in vaginal self-samples: evaluation of eNat® as an alternative suspension medium to ThinPrep®PreservCyt® for vaginal swabs

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) testing on self-collected samples allows for improved coverage rates of cervical cancer (CC) screening programs. ThinPrep®PreservCyt® (HOLOGIC®, USA) medium is widely used for the suspension of cervical and vaginal self-samples. However, this medium is costly, toxic, and flammable, involving special handling procedures which make its use difficult in screening programs, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the analytical performance of eNat ® (Copan SpA), an alternative non-alcohol-based suspension medium, compared to ThinPrep®PreservCyt® (HOLOGIC®) for high-risk HPV (hrHPV) detection in vaginal self-collected swabs using three different real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) HPV assays: Anyplex™II HPV28 (Seegene, Korea), Papilloplex® High Risk HPV (GeneFirst, UK), and HPV OncoPredict (Hiantis, Italy). 30 women, referred to colposcopy, were enrolled in this observational, prospective pilot study and asked to collect two vaginal self-taken samples, which were suspended in 5 mL of ThinPrep®PreservCyt® or eNat®. Nucleic acids were extracted from 200 μL using Microlab Nimbus platform (Seegene, Korea) and tested with the three different RT-PCR full-genotyping high-risk HPV assays. The HPV results of vaginal samples resuspended in the two different media were compared to those obtained from the reference clinician-collected cervical sample from the same woman. hrHPV detection in vaginal self-samples suspended in both media demonstrated a substantial agreement with cervical samples with the three assays under-investigation (0.667 Collapse

Key Words

• HPV-testing
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
• ThinPrep®PreservCyt
• eNat®
• vaginal self-collection

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Affiliation(s)

Chiara Giubbi Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy
Marianna Martinelli Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy
Ivan Vallini Hiantis S.r.l., Milano, Italy
Silvia Paganoni Hiantis S.r.l., Milano, Italy
Tarig Dafa'alla GeneFirst Ltd., Abingdon, OX14 3DB, UK
Federica Perdoni Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy
Rosario Musumeci Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy
Winnie Wu GeneFirst Ltd., Abingdon, OX14 3DB, UK
Santina Castriciano Copan Italia SpA, Brescia, Italy
Paolo Romano Hiantis S.r.l., Milano, Italy
Clementina E. Cocuzza Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy

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