Comparison of DRY and WET vaginal swabs with cervical specimens in Roche Cobas 4800 HPV and Abbott RealTime High Risk HPV tests.
Self-collected vaginal swab samples have been proposed as an alternative specimen collection method for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA detection.



Two vaginal swabs (a cone-shaped flocked swab (DRY) and a L-shape FLOQSwab with 2mL eNAT transport medium (WET)) were compared to standard cervical samples for HPV DNA testing. Additionally, they were also compared by using Roche Cobas 4800 HPV (Roche_HPV) and Abbott Real-time High Risk HPV (Abbott_HPV) tests.



Ninety-six women were prospectively enrolled from the National Cancer Center in Korea between June and August 2015. WET and DRY vaginal swabs and cervical specimens were collected. Roche_HPV and Abbott_HPV tests were performed. The Roche_HPV test on cervical specimens was used as reference.



The observed agreements (kappa) of Roche_HPV and Abbott_HPV between WET and DRY swabs were 89.6% (0.790, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.667-0.913) and 91.7% (0.833, 95%CI: 0.723-0.943), respectively. No statistical difference was observed between WET and DRY swabs (p>0.05 for all comparisons). For HPV16/18, the sensitivity/specificity of Roche_HPV on the DRY and WET samples presented 93.8%/96.3% and 87.5%/97.5%, respectively. For other High Risk HPV (hrHPV), the sensitivity/specificity of Roche_HPV on the DRY and WET swabs presented 91.9%/91.5% and 97.3%/98.3, respectively. The sensitivity/specificity of the Abbott_HPV on the DRY and WET swabs were 93.8%/98.8%, 87.5%/98.8% for HPV16/18, and 91.9%/93.2%, 100.0%/93.2% for other hrHPV, respectively.



HPV tests performed similarly when using vaginal DRY and WET swab samples. Using DRY and WET swabs to collect vaginal specimens could be an alternative to collecting cervical samples for HPV DNA testing.
National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Jae Kwan
JK
Jun
Center for Uterine Cancer, and Gynecologic Cancer Branch, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea; Center for Uterine Cancer, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Myong Cheol
MC
Lim
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea; Hematologic Malignancy Branch, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: mindcatch@ncc.re.kr.
Sang-Hyun
SH
Hwang
National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Hye Young
HY
Shin
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Na Rae
NR
Hwang
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Yeon-Jin
YJ
Kim
Center for Uterine Cancer, and Gynecologic Cancer Branch, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea; Center for Uterine Cancer, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Chong Woo
CW
Yoo
Center for Uterine Cancer, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Dong Ock
DO
Lee
Biometric Research Branch, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Jungnam
J
Joo
Center for Uterine Cancer, and Gynecologic Cancer Branch, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea; Center for Uterine Cancer, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Sang-Yoon
SY
Park
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Do-Hoon
DH
Lee
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D014621:Vagina / Q000821:virology*
Cervical cancer; Cervical specimen; DRY swab; HPV testing; Vaginal swab; WET swab