Title
Comparative evaluation of hrHPV DNA testing, cervical cytology and histopathology for cervical precancer detection
Authors
Atul Jain1, Mamta Meena2, Shiny Vincent3, Iqra Sheikh4, Surabhi Sharma5, Kuldeep Singh6 & Rajdeep Paul6,*
Affiliation
1Department of Pathology, Bundelkhand Medical College, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India; 2Department of Microbiology, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; 3Department of Medical Laboratory, Leonard Hospital, Tamil Nadu, India; 4Department of Clinical Pathology, Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, India; 5Department of Microbiology, Teerthanker Mahaveer Medical College & Research Centre, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India; 6Department of Microbiology, Chirayu Medical College & Hospital, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; *Corresponding author
Atul Jain - E-mail: jainkatul23@gmail.com
Mamta Meena - E-mail: mamtameena@gmail.com
Shiny Vincent - E-mail: shinyvincentscc@gmail.com
Iqra Sheikh - E-mail: iqrasheikh0608@gmail.com
Surabhi Sharma - E-mail: sharmasurabhi669@gmail.com
Kuldeep Singh - E-mail: kuldeeprbxy@gmail.com
Rajdeep Paul - E-mail: rajdeepmicro20@gmail.com
Article Type
Research Article
Date
Received June 1, 2026; Revised June 30, 2026; Accepted June 30, 2026, Published June 30, 2026
Abstract
Cervical cancer remains a major public health challenge in India, driven primarily by persistent high-risk HPV infection. Hence, this prospective study evaluated hrHPV DNA testing, cervical cytology and co-testing in 400 symptomatic women, using histopathology as the gold standard for CIN2+ detection. HPV DNA testing showed the highest sensitivity (90%) and diagnostic accuracy (63.8%) compared with cytology and co-testing, while ROC analysis confirmed its superior performance (AUC 0.75). HPV16 was the predominant genotype, followed by HPV18, HPV52 and HPV58, together accounting for most high-grade lesions. Thus, we show HPV DNA testing as a more reliable primary screening method than cytology in resource-limited settings.
Keywords
Cervical cancer, hrHPV DNA testing, cytology, histopathology, screening, genotyping
Citation
Jain et al. Bioinformation 22(6): 3395-3399 (2026)
Edited by
Rashmi Laddha
ISSN
0973-2063
Publisher
License
This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
