global cervical cancer experts recommend that HPV test is used routinely for primary screening programmes of prevention.

In Catalonia, with the test screening digene HPV QIAGEN detects four times more cancers of neck of uterus and 11 times more cervical abnormalities that screening with PAP.

Madrid, February 2010.- experts present at the Congress of EUROGIN the Virus of human papillomavirus (HPV) of Spain, Germany and Great Britain (European Research Organization on Genital Infection and Neoplasia), held in Monaco, have recommended that HPV DNA test be used routinely as a primary screening, followed by cytology, women from the age of 30.

EUROGIN had submitted new data on the implementation of the HPV test in the Catalonia cervical cancer prevention program. The Silvia doctor of Sanjosé, of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), said that with the test screening digene HPV QIAGEN detected four times more cancers of neck of uterus and 11 times more cervical lesions that screening with PAP ”. Dr. Sanjosé also noted that approximately 30% of women between 25 and 65 not hosting cytology screening programmes offered on Spain and 76% of women diagnosed with cervical cancer do not have been subjected to a cytology in the previous 10 years. Using HPV testing as test of rescue for women over 40 years not undergoing screening scheduled for at least five years and more, detect 11 times more CIN 2 and CIN 3 than in the general population of any age range ”, said the expert. This means a prevalence of CIN 2 + 17.3/1000 in testing rescue vs. 1.52/1000 in screening the general population.

For Dr. Xavier Bosch, director of the research programme in epidemiology from the cancer of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), numerous clinical studies have shown year after year enough evidence on how the HPV DNA test provides a sensitivity and greater than cytology long-term protection ”.

In one of the many studies presented this year at EUROGIN, German researchers used the test digene HPV, followed by cytology, as primary screening in women over 29 years of the city of Wolfsburg. The 4.81% 18.393 women offered positive HPV test results and results normal in the cytology within this population, three cases of invasive cervical cancer, 4 cases of adenocarcinoma in situ and 61 CIN3 were detected and none was diagnosed by cytology alone. Of the 134 CIN 3 + found cases, all but one were positive for HPV testing.

One of the authors of this research, the teacher Karl Ulrich Petra, said that had a large group of women with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance or intra-epiteliales lesions squamous of low grade, with the old system of screening, they would have been followed with additional PAP one yeardelaying the possible treatment or creating the conditions to become unidentified cases of advanced lesions ”.

And another group of women with CIN3 + had made it 3 PAP with normal results in an interval of twelve months, women whose injuries have not been detected if not for the positive results of the HPV test ”, added.

The researchers concluded that the use of HPV primary screening test reduces deaths from cervical cancer and is significantly more effective than cytology in preventing invasive cervical cancer ”.

On the other hand, a large number of clinical studies conducted in countries such as Canada, Sweden, Great Britain, the Netherlands or Italy have shown that the risk of developing an injury CIN 2 + or an invasive cancer after a negative HPV test is very low and that the protection offered by this test persists up to 6 years. Thus, if the HPV test was used as the main test for cervical cancer screening, this strategy would enable a secure extension of the screening interval and would provide significant benefits to women and to the public health system.

About QIAGEN

QIAGEN N.V., a business group of the Netherlands, is the leading global provider of technologies for the realization of samples and trials. QIAGEN has developed and markets over 500 products, as well as solutions automated for such products. The company supplies to laboratories of molecular diagnosis, academic researchers, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology, and customers who use this evidence in forensic areas, veterinary, food and pharmaceutical process control. QIAGEN assay technologies include one of the largest sets of worldwide molecular diagnostic tests. This set is testing digene HPV, which is considered the “gold standard” tests to detect the high-risk types of HPV, are the leading cause of cervical cancer.

About the test digene HPV

The test digene HPV QIAGEN is approved by United States and Europe for use in conjunction with the Pap smear in women over 30 years. Since 1999 the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) ” approved the test, more than 300 articles have been published in specialized journals and more than 825,000 studies in clinical programs to women. More than 40 million of carcinoma of HPV testing has been made with the test digene HPV.

About HPV and cervical cancer

The cervical cancer or cervical cancer affects around of 500,000 women each year worldwide, and after breast cancer, is the second most common in women neoplastic disease. This type of cancer is originating by the high-risk types of the Virus of human papillomavirus (HPV), whose transmission is sexual. It is estimated that 80% of women will have an HPV infection at some point in their lives. However, the infection will disappear in most cases without causing major problems. It is only in cases of persistent infection that can cause abnormal cells that can develop a cervical cancer if not detected and treated before. For more information about HPV and cervical cancer, visit http://www.hpv-test.es.