What is the significance of HPV typing test?

HPV is a virus that can cause genital warts and common warts if you are infected with it. In particular, the incidence of genital warts among sexually transmitted diseases is getting higher and higher, and long-term infection with HPV can also cause cervical cancer, anal cancer and other diseases. Therefore, people are paying more and more attention to HPV. Moreover, HPV can be divided into low-risk and high-risk types. Let’s take a look at the significance of HPV typing testing.

What is the significance of HPV typing test

Research at home and abroad has confirmed that cervical infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer. It can be said that: without HPV infection, cervical cancer will not occur. So, how do women get infected with HPV? The main route of infection is sexual intercourse.

However, this does not mean that being infected with HPV will definitely lead to cervical cancer. HPV is divided into high-risk and low-risk types. It is generally believed that high-risk HPV is related to the incidence of cervical cancer, while low-risk HPV is related to benign lesions of the reproductive tract. In fact, 70-80% of women have been infected with HPV in their lifetime, and most of them clear it on their own within 1-2 years after infection through their own immunity. "HPV infection in women is as common as catching a cold." Therefore, even if you are diagnosed with HPV infection, there is no need to panic.

Please note: Only persistent infection with high-risk HPV will increase the risk of cervical cancer. Even for high-risk HPV, its toxicity (carcinogenicity) varies. Therefore, regular testing of HPV, especially testing of HPV types, is very important, as it can predict the risk of cervical cancer and has important clinical guidance significance.

At present, the HPV typing test we carry out can detect 15 high-risk HPV types and 6 low-risk HPV types. It can screen out women at high risk of cervical cancer from the general population, and formulate a comprehensive treatment plan for patients based on their age, different types of HPV, and the level of cervical lesions.

HPV typing:

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a genus of papillomavirus A belonging to the family Papovaviridae. It is a spherical DNA virus that can cause squamous epithelial proliferation in human skin and mucous membranes. More than 130 types have been isolated so far. Different types cause different clinical manifestations. According to the different tissue sites invaded, they can be divided into:

(1) Low-risk skin types: including HPV1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 15, etc., which are associated with common warts, flat warts, plantar warts, etc.;

(2) High-risk skin types: including HPV5, 8, 14, 17, 20, 36, 38, which are associated with epidermodysplasia verruciformis. Other malignant tumors that may be associated with HPV infection include: vulvar cancer, penile cancer, anal cancer, prostate cancer, and bladder cancer.

(3) Low-risk mucosal types such as HPV-6, 11, 13, 32, 34, 40, 42, 43, 44, 53, 54, etc., which infect the genital, anal, oropharyngeal, and esophageal mucosa;

(4) Mucosal high-risk HPV-16, 18, 30, 31, 33, 35, 39 and cervical cancer, rectal cancer, oral cancer, tonsil cancer, etc.

Biological activity: HPV is highly resistant and can withstand drying and long-term storage. It can be inactivated by heating or formalin treatment, so it can be killed by high-temperature disinfection and 2% glutaraldehyde disinfection.