Evaluation of the Hybrid Capture human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid detection test.

Abstract

Our purpose was to evaluate the sensitivity and accuracy of a new, nonradioactive human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid detection method. Cervical samples from 520 women were assayed for human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid with both the Hybrid Capture test and polymerase chain reaction. Human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid was detected with Hybrid Capture in 106 (42%) of 254 samples from women with no evidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and 211 (79%) of 266 with cervical intraepithelial lesions or cervical cancer. There was a good correlation between Hybrid Capture and polymerase chain reaction. Hybrid Capture correctly identified 92% of samples found to contain a human papillomavirus type with a high or intermediate oncogenic risk with polymerase chain reaction. Although Hybrid Capture can quantify the amount of human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid present in a sample, no correlation was observed between the relative amount of human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid detected with Hybrid Capture and the grade of cervical lesion. The Hybrid Capture test is a sensitive and accurate method for identifying human papillomavirus types of high and intermediate oncogenic risk in clinical specimens.