"Low-grade positivity" of HPV viral load after atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) cytology identifies women at low-risk for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 and 3

Eur J Gynaecol Oncol. 2012;33(3):261-4.

Abstract

The correlation between high-risk HPV-DNA viral load, expressed as relative light units (RLU) values obtained from the Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) test, and the prevalence of CIN2/CIN3 was investigated and statistically analyzed in 614 ASC-US consecutive cases. Cases were categorized into three groups according to RLU values: "low-grade positivity", "intermediate positivity" and "high-grade positivity", and the prevalence of CIN2/CIN3 was evaluated in the single groups and compared among them. CIN/CIN3 rates demonstrated a significant (p < 0.001) increase with a direct correlation with increasing RLU values: 4.6% (RLU from 1.0 to 10.0), 9.1% (RLU from 11.0 to 100.0) and 32.2% (RLU > 100.0) respectively. The prevalence of CIN2/CIN3 between the group with RLU < 10.0 (4.6%) and the group with RLU > 10 (24.2%) showed statistical significance (p = 0.0002). Increasing hrHPV viral load significantly correlates with increasing prevalence of CIN2/CIN3 in ASC-US cases.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • DNA, Viral / analysis*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Neoplasm Grading
  • Papillomaviridae / isolation & purification*
  • Papillomavirus Infections / virology*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / pathology*
  • Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / virology
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / virology
  • Viral Load*

Substances

  • DNA, Viral