review · Analytical Methods
Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the primary cause of cervical cancer, a global health priority for the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO aims to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030, partly through widespread screening. Traditional screening methods, such as Pap smears and nucleic acid tests, have reduced cancer incidence but face challenges including low sensitivity, poor reproducibility, and high costs, limiting their effectiveness for complete HPV eradication. This review discusses these conventional methods, efforts to improve them, and highlights emergent tools, particularly electrochemical methods. These newer approaches show promise in revolutionising HPV screening and diagnosis by offering high-performance, affordable, and triage-suitable diagnostic solutions for researchers to develop.
Improving HPV detection is crucial for preventing cervical cancer, a significant global health burden. Better screening tools can help achieve the WHO's goal of eliminating cervical cancer by making testing more accurate, accessible, and affordable, especially in resource-limited settings.
This review points towards the development of new electrochemical-based diagnostic tools for HPV and cervical cancer screening. These tools aim to be high-performance, affordable, and suitable for triage, potentially benefiting healthcare providers and patients by offering more accessible and cost-effective testing. This is early-stage research focused on identifying promising technological avenues for future diagnostic product development.
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Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main cause of cervical cancer and other cancers such as anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers. The prevention screening and treatment of cervical cancer has remained one of the top priorities of the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2020, the WHO came up with the 90-70-90 strategy aimed at eliminating cervical cancers as a public health problem by the year 2030. One of the key priorities of this strategy is the recommendation for countries to ensure that 70% of their women are screened using a high-performance test by the age of 35, and again by the age of 45. Over the years, several traditional methods (notably, Pap smear and nucleic acid-based techniques) have been used for the detection of cervical cancer. While these methods have significantly reduced the incidence of cervical cancer and death, they still come short of excellence for the total eradication of HPV infection. The challenges include low sensitivity, low specificity, poor reproducibility, the need for high-level specialists, and the high cost of access to the facilities, to mention a few. Interestingly, however, several efforts are being made today to mitigate these challenges. In this review, we discussed the pros and cons of the traditional screening and testing of HPV infections, the efforts being made to improve their performances, and the emergent tools (especially, the electrochemical methods) that promise to revolutionize the screening and testing of HPV infections. The main aim of the review is to provide some novel clues to researchers that would allow for the development of high-performance, affordable, and triage-suitable electrochemical-based diagnostic tools for HPV and cervical cancer.
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DOI: 10.1039/d4ay01921k
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