Biomarkers of HPV Clearance: A Prospective Study

Because infection with high-risk human papillomavirus is a necessary cause of cervical cancer, HPV testing has many potential uses in cervical cancer screening. Unfortunately, like cytology, it suffers from a lack of specificity when used for population-based screening. Given that HPV testing detects more cases of CIN3+ than cytology and that it would probably be more practical in developing regions, finding a biomarker that would increase specificity has been the goal for much research on HPV and cervical cancer. The goal of this study is to explore potential predictors of viral clearance, specifically RNA levels of candidate genes in cervical swabs and host genetic polymorphisms, in the context of genotype-specific infection data.