Serum human papilloma virus detection following treatment of cervical cancer: prevalence and its correlation with recurrence.

Authors

Vinotha Thomas, John Dickson Calvin Devadasan, Neenu Oliver John, Jeba Karunya Reddy, Arvind Sathyamurthy, Dhanya Susan Thomas, Gnanadurai John Fletcher, Rajesh Kannangai, Anuradha Chandramohan, Betty Simon, Anitha Thomas, Thomas Samuel Ram, Grace Rebekah, Priya Abraham

Published in

Cancer causes & control : CCC. Volume 37. Issue 7. Jun 25, 2026. Epub Jun 25, 2026.

Abstract

The detection of human papilloma virus (HPV) in serum after treatment for cervical cancer warrants further investigation.
To study the prevalence of serum HPV and correlate its presence with cervical cancer recurrence.
This prospective cross-sectional study recruited 100 patients following treatment of HPV-associated cervical cancer between January 2023 and March 2024 at a tertiary care centre in South India. Patients who had completed treatment within the past 3 years were included. After obtaining consent, a one-time serum sample for HPV detection was analysed using a multiplex real-time PCR AnyplexTM II HPV HR detection assay (Seegene, Seoul, South Korea). The prevalence of serum HPV was correlated with disease recurrence and evaluated by Fisher's Exact test. The log-rank test assessed the differences in disease-free survival between cases with and without measurable serum HPV.
Among the 100 patients, the prevalence of serum HPV was 18% (18/100), with genotype 16 being found in 83.3% (15/18) of cases. There were 27 recurrences, of which 15 (55.6%) had detectable serum HPV DNA. Disease recurrence was significantly associated with serum HPV (odds ratio: 29.17, 95% confidence interval: 7.32-116.24). Higher serum HPV DNA levels, as determined by semi-quantification (2 + and 3 +), were associated with an increased hazard ratio for recurrence (58.33, CI: 6.83-498.23). Kaplan-Meier disease-free estimates revealed a significant association between recurrence and serum HPV prevalence (p = 0.000).
Serum HPV can be used in the detection of recurrence in post-treatment surveillance of cervical cancer and should be validated in a prospective, longitudinal study.

PMID:
42347892
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Jun 2026.

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