Clinical evaluation of DNA ploidy for the triage of HPV-positive Chinese women during cervical cancer screening

Abstract

Quantification of DNA aneuploidy has great potential as a prognostic marker of cervical precancerous lesions. We aim to evaluate the performance of DNA ploidy analysis for the triage of HPV-positive women. 523 HPV-positive women ages 25–64 undergoing HPV and pap cytology testing with valid cervical biopsies in Renji Hospital were enrolled in a prospective observational study from June 2018 to June 2019. The clinical performances of DNA ploidy, with or without HPV16/18 genotyping, were evaluated for all HPV-positive women to detect histologic high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion or worse (HSIL+). For HSIL+ detection, DNA ploidy had statistically higher specificity (83.89%) than Pap cytology (75.50%, P = 0.002) and HPV16/18 genotyping (77.92%, P = 0.023). Although the sensitivity of DNA ploidy (58.57%) remained similar with pap cytology (65.71%, P = 0.461) and HPV16/18 genotyping (55.71%, P = 0.734). A comparable sensitivity (84.29% vs. 84.29%, P = 1.000) and a higher specificity (66.00% vs. 58.94%, P < 0.001) compared with combination with Pap cytology. DNA ploidy triage strategy required fewer colposcopies per detection of HSIL+ compared with pap cytologic testing, with a 13.1% (34 of 258) reduction of colposcopies compared with routine triage strategy of HPV screening with Pap cytologic testing. HPV16/18-negative women with negative DNA ploidy results had the lowest risk of HSIL+ among HPV-positive women (3.55%). Automated DNA ploidy analysis, alone or in combination with HPV16/18 genotyping, shows the potential as a triage strategy of cervical cancer screening for HPV-positive women.