Low-cost Indigenous HPV test may improve cervical cancer screening access in India

Cervical cancer remains an important public health problem in India with approximately 127000 new cases and 80000 cervical cancerrelated deaths reported annuallyAccording to the release the regular screening of women over the age of 30 years at 35 yearly intervals can detect precancerous and cancerous cervical lesions but coverage has remained poor despite the inclusion of visual inspection with acetic acid VIA in the National Programme for Screening of the three common cancers namely breast oral and cervical cancerPersistent infection with carcinogenic types of human papillomavirus cHPV is the necessary cause of cervical cancer WHO has recommended transition to HPV testing as the best strategy to achieve cervical cancer elimination as stated in the releaseUsing validated HPV tests only two rounds of screening at ages 35 and 45 years will be sufficient to achieve cervical cancer elimination However most HPV tests are expensive requiring sophisticated technology and are not accessible at the lastmile facilitiesA pointofcare PoC testing approach for cHPV detection could represent a major breakthrough in affordable diagnostics for early detection and management of cervical cancer allowing for sameday treatment of positive cases as per the releaseThe PoC tests have potential for scalability as a lowcost screening tool in India and low and middleincome countries LMICs according to a new multicentre study published in the International Journal of CancerThe study was conducted across premier institutions including AIIMS New Delhi ICMRNational Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research Noida NICPR and ICMRNational Institute for Research in Reproductive and Child Health NIRRCH Mumbai in collaboration with WHOInternational Agency for Research on Cancer IARC France and supported by DBTBIRAC Grand Challenges IndiaThe objective was to evaluate the indigenous HPV DNA testing platforms for use in primary cervical cancer screening While several Indian tests have been developed they have not been validated by the international standards laid down by the WHO Four pointofcare tests were evaluated and two have been found suitable for use in the National ProgrammeDr Neerja Bhatla Professor Emeritus NCI and Former Head of Department of Obstetrics amp Gynaecology at AIIMS New Delhi lead author and coordinator of the study stated that the study is among the first to apply the WHO Target Product Profile TPP and IARC criteria to evaluate reducedvalency HPV assays to tests developed in IndiaThe first step was to suggest the development of HPV tests with the 8 most common HPV types seen in cervical cancer which could be performed in district and subdistrictlevel facilities and require minimal training and expertise These innovations aimed to overcome limitations of existing tests which were largely developed in highincome settings and target a broader range of HPV types increasing cost and complexityThis study demonstrates that indigenous platforms can achieve clinical validation quality standards and accuracy comparable to global goldstandard tests It will be a gamechanger for cervical cancer prevention and early detection in India Dr Bhatla saidDr Shalini Singh Director ICMRNICPR reiterated that HPV DNA testing of women at age 35 and again by age 45 is central to WHOs cervical cancer elimination strategy However high costs hinder widespread implementation in LMICs Affordable indigenous solutions are essential to expand screening coverage and reduce disease burden she emphasisedDr Showket Hussain one of the corresponding authors highlighted that the validated platform has strong potential for nationwide integration into screening programmes as districtlevel personnel are already familiar with their use He added that future advancements such as selfsampling and highthroughput adaptations could further enhance accessibilityThe findings are expected to support Indias cervical cancer elimination goals while offering a scalable model for other lowresource settings globally While HPV vaccination recently introduced as a National Campaign will make a remarkable difference for the younger generation there is an urgent need to incorporate HPV testing for more effective screening of women aged less than 30 years who are at risk of cervical cancerThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever