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Feasibility and Accuracy of Menstrual Blood Testing for High-risk Human Papillomavirus Detection With Capture Sequencing

Zhang J, Tian X, Chen Y, et al.JAMA Network Open · 2021DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.40644

In plain language

Capture sequencing of high-risk HPV in 137 sanitary pads from 120 women who were HPV positive by cervical testing. Menstrual blood detected high-risk HPV with 97.7% sensitivity and 92.7% concordance with cervical samples, and detection was possible on several cycle days.

Key numbers

120
Women HPV positive by cervical testing
97.7%
Sensitivity versus a sequencing reference, in known HPV-positive women
92.7%
Concordance with cervical samples (137 pads)

What it means

An ordinary pad carried enough viral DNA to identify high-risk HPV types, on several days of the cycle. The women were already known to be HPV positive, so this measures sensitivity, not screening performance.

What it does not show

Every woman was already HPV positive and pads were frozen within an hour of use, so it shows detection in known infections, not screening accuracy or performance on a dried, mailed sample.

Figures

Figure 2 from HPV capture sequencing on sanitary pads: High-risk HPV genotypes found on sanitary pads compared with cervical testing.
Figure 2. High-risk HPV genotypes found on sanitary pads compared with cervical testing.
Figure 3 from HPV capture sequencing on sanitary pads: Pad results across different days of the menstrual cycle in 14 women.
Figure 3. Pad results across different days of the menstrual cycle in 14 women.

Figures reproduced unchanged from Zhang J et al., JAMA Network Open, 2021, under CC BY 4.0. Captions written by Qvin.

How to cite

Zhang J, Tian X, Chen Y, Huang S, Cui Z, Tian R, et al. Feasibility and Accuracy of Menstrual Blood Testing for High-risk Human Papillomavirus Detection With Capture Sequencing. JAMA Network Open. 2021;4(12):e2140644. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.40644

Reviewed by the Qvin science team, .