assessment of the diagnostic value of high-risk hpv molecular-based methods for triage of iranian women with abnormal cytological findings of asc-us and lsil

Background objective:  recent advances in molecular testing for human papillomavirus (hpv) has increased the accuracy of cervical screening programs. this study intended to estimate the diagnostic value of high-risk (hr) hpv dna- and e6/e7 mrna-based methods for triage of iranian women with abnormal cytological results regarding the histopathological cut-off.materials methods: in this cross-sectional study, 360 non-pregnant women (≥ 21 years) who had faced abnormal cytological findings (asc-us and lsil) were enrolled and referred for further diagnostic tests. the inno-lipa® hpv genotyping extra-ii and aptima hpv assay kits were used in dna- and e6/e7 mrna-based methods for detection of hr-hpv. regarding the cin-2+ histopathological cut-off, the diagnostic value of each molecular-based assay was calculated.results: among the study participants, 260 cases had asc-us, and 100 had lsil. the overall positivity rate for dna- and mrna-based methods was 74.4% (268/360) and 64.2% (231/360), respectively. fifty-nine (16.4%) individuals showed cin-2+. the dna-based test showed higher sensitivity (100%) than the mrna-based method (93.2%), while the mrna-based method revealed greater clinical specificity (41.5%) compared to the dna-based test (30.6%).conclusion: our results revealed appropriate clinical sensitivity of the molecular-based methods for triage of iranian women with abnormal cytological results; however, the mrna-based method showed greater specificity for detection of cin-2+.