The comparative results of three different real-time PCR assays: MY09/11 primers failed to detect multiple infections

HPV-DNA testing is widely used worldwide today and it has become an important part of cervical cancer screening programs. The aim of this study is re-evaluating the effectiveness of MY09/11 consensus primer system, which is one of the most widely used HPV-DNA tests, by using a different approach. In this study, MY09/11 consensus PCR and two different TaqMan-based type-specific PCR assays were used for investigation of the presence of 17 different HPV types in cervical smear samples. Of the 470 samples, 33.2% (156/470) were HPV-DNA positive by at least one of the three methods and remains were negative by all methods. A total of 220 different HPV isolates were identified in 149 samples by the type specific PCR, while the nine samples were positive by consensus PCR only. A single HPV type was detected in 64.4% (96/149) of the genotyped samples, and multiple HPV types were detected in the remaining 35.6% (53/149). MY09/11 PCR failed to detect 21.2% (33/156) of all HPV-DNA positive samples and the rates of false negative results were 18.75% (18/96) and 28.3% (15/53) in single and multiple infections, respectively. We conclude that highly sensitive type-specific PCR tests may be a useful tool for screening of cervical cancer.