Continuous Global Improvement of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Genotyping Services: The 2022 and 2023 HPV LabNet International Proficiency Studies.

The International Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Reference Center launches annual global HPV genotyping proficiency panels to enhance the precision and international standardization of HPV genotyping services. This study aims to assess the proficiency levels achieved in the global HPV genotyping proficiency panels conducted in 2022 and 2023, and to evaluate trends in performance over time. The proficiency panels comprised 44 blinded samples each, including 40 samples containing various purified plasmids corresponding to HPV types combined with human DNA, plus four control samples (one negative control and three extraction controls).

First international proficiency study on human papillomavirus testing in cervical cancer screening.

Background: Although cervical screening using Human Papillomavirus (HPV) testing is globally recommended public health policy, there has been no international proficiency studies specifically targeting HPV testing for cervical screening.

Objective: To obtain the first global overview of the current proficiency of HPV testing services for cervical cancer screening.

Study Design: A coded proficiency panel of 12 samples containing HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, 58 or 35/39/51/56/59/68 in human DNA in varying amounts as well as control.