Table 2.
Test | Comments |
---|---|
p16 IHC | commonly performed in clinical labs, high correlation with outcome, but may be elevated in HPV-negative cases |
ISH | highly specific and can be performed on paraffin embedded samples, but low sensitivity for tumors with low numbers of copies of the HPV genome |
PCR | highly specific and fast turnaround time but environmental contamination can lead to false positive results |
RT-PCR | sensitive and specific because it detects actively HPV infection, but requires intact RNA so better results from fresh or frozen tissue than from paraffin-embedded tissue |
serology | easy to perform, but no direct relationship to viral-associated cancers |
IHC, immunohistochemistry; ISH, in situ hybridization; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; RT-PCR, reverse transcripase polymerase chain reaction