Application of Plasma Circulating Human Papillomavirus (HPV) DNA Testing to Management of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia

cHPVDNA is detectable in plasma of patients with invasive disease and CIN 1-3, and with the development of a highly sensitive and specific droplet digital Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay, it is hoped to be identified more prevalently and thus can improve risk stratification and help produce personalized treatment decisions and may be more cost-efficient. Plasma samples and cervical swabs will be collected from patients in University of North Carolina (UNC) Gynecology clinics, and some patients will also provide a urine sample. Those receiving biopsies or colposcopies and will come back to clinic 2-4 weeks post-excision for collection of another blood specimen. Using plasma samples and pathology results, we will characterize the relationship between plasma cHPVDNA levels and 1) CIN 1 versus CIN 2-3 pathology 2) CIN 2-3 pre-excision and 2-4 weeks post-excision. We will accrue three cohorts of 25, 30, 30 patients corresponding to 1) Control 2) CIN 1 3) CIN 2-3. The control cohort will establish background signal in the assay. We will compare the proportion of detectable cHPVDNA levels between CIN 1 and CIN 2-3 cohorts using Fisher's exact test with 80% power, significance level of 10%. Paired t-test will be used to compare pre- and post-excision cHPVDNA levels.