Low incidence of HPV DNA in sera of pretreatment cervical cancer patients

Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using DNA in the circulation as a diagnostic tool for cervical cancer. Methods. We used PCR followed by Southern hybridization to detect human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in serum samples taken from patients of cervical cancer before treatment. Results. A total of 60 samples were analyzed. In a set of 40 samples, without knowledge of the HPV DNA status in the corresponding cervical carcinomas, we could detect 8 (20%) positive samples, of which 7 (17.5%) were HPV 16 and 1 (2.5%) was HPV 18. In another set of 20 samples, known to be HPV 16 infected in the corresponding cervical carcinomas, we detected only 4 (20%) HPV-16-positive samples. The occurrence of HPV DNA in sera of cervical cancer patients seems sporadic. Conclusion. The low incidence indicates that serum HPV DNA has limited application in the diagnosis of cervical cancer. (C) 2001 Academic Press.