Impact of Six-Month Frozen Storage of Cervical Specimens in Alkaline Buffer Conditions on Human Papillomavirus Genotyping

摘要

The impact of 6-month storage of cervical specimens under alkaline conditions that occurs as the result of Hybrid Capture 2 testing on human papillomavirus (HPV) genotyping is not well documented. To examine this issue, 143 frozen hc2-positive specimens in specimen transport medium were selected at random from each of the following groups: specimens stored for 6 months, 4 months, and 2.5 months under alkaline pH (pH 12–13) and specimens stored 1 month at neutral pH (pH 6–7) as controls (one control specimen was missing results). Specimens were tested in a masked fashion for 19 HPV genotypes (HPV6, 11, 16, 18, 26, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 66, 68, 73, and 82) using a prototype, research-use-only GP5+/6+ L1 consensus PCR method and multiplex hybridization using Luminex® xMAP® for detection of specific HPV genotypes. There were no statistical differences in the number of HPV genotypes detected, number of carcinogenic HPV genotypes detected, or in the signal strength among HPV-positive results across groups. Six-month frozen storage of cervical specimens at alkaline pH had little impact on testing for HPV genotypes among hc2-positive women using this HPV genotyping method.