Sociodemographics, behaviour and knowledge of first South African HPV-vaccine recipients.

BACKGROUND:  Infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) is a necessary cause of cervical cancer and is one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections worldwide. Primary prevention strategies target reducing HPV acquisition through vaccination, limiting exposure (e.g. delayed sexual debut, barrier contraception) and health education focusing on sexual behaviour and tobacco use. METHODS:  The ImmunoVACCS study, conducted from 2019 to 2022 in two provinces in South Africa, examined sociodemographic characteristics, sexual practices, and knowledge of cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine among young female vaccine recipients. It encompassed participants from the previously conducted vaccine implementation trials, VACCS 1 and VACCS 2 (2011-2014). Recruitment involved telephonic contact with eligible potential participants. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires. RESULTS:  One hundred and eleven participants took part in the current study (median age: 20 years; age range: 16-22 years). Most sexually active participants had their first engagement in secondary school (96.2%), and 77.2% used contraception during their last sexual activity. Knowledge gaps were evident, with only 13.5% recognising cervical cancer's cervix origin and 3.6% attributing it to a virus. Despite this, 70.3% had heard of a vaccine for cervical cancer. Less than half knew about the importance of regular Pap smears (49.5%), vaccine protection (44.1%) or condom use (20.7%) against HPV and cervical cancer. CONCLUSION:  The current study demonstrates that young women still lack complete information on cervical cancer and its risk factors even after receiving health education linked with vaccination.Contribution: This study underscores the necessity of ongoing education about HPV, its risks and preventive measures among young women to combat cervical cancer.

The performance of single and combination test strategies using visual inspection, cytology, high-risk HPV DNA and HPV16/18 to screen South African women with and without HIV-infection.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer screening strategies should ideally be informed by population-specific data. Strategies recommended for secondary prevention, are often inadequately studied in populations with high cervical disease burdens. This report describes the test performance measured against CIN2 + /CIN3 + histology in HIV-positive women (HPW) and HIV-negative women (HNW) with the aim to determine the most effective strategies to identify South African women at risk. METHODS: Primary screening using visual inspection, cytology and HPV DNA (cobas®) was performed in two South African provinces on 456 HPW and 639 HNW participating in the multicentric DiaVACCS trial. Histology was obtained for 91.7% screen-positive and 42.7% screen-negative participants, and unavailable histology was determined by multiple imputation to adjust for verification bias. Cross-sectional test performance was calculated for single and combination test strategies with and without intermediate risk categories using different cut-offs. Minimum acceptability for sensitivity and specificity, treatment and follow-up numbers were considered to evaluate strategies. RESULTS: The only single test to reach acceptability in HPW was cytology (LSIL) [sensitivity 71.2%; specificity 90.5%; treatment 33.4%]; in HNW only HPV (hr) qualified [sensitivity 68.2%; specificity 85.2%; treatment 23.5%]. The universally best performing strategy which also resulted in smaller treatment numbers without intermediate risk group was primary HPV(hr), with treatment of both HPV(16/18) and cytology (ASCUS +) [HPW: sensitivity 73.6%; specificity 89.7%; treatment 34.7%. HNW: sensitivity 59.1%; specificity 93.6%; treatment 13.9%]. DNA testing for hrHPV (any) and hrHPV (16/18) was the best universally acceptable strategy with an intermediate risk category (early follow-up) in HPW [sensitivity 82.1%; specificity 96.4%; treatment 17.1%; follow-up 31.4%] and HNW [sensitivity 68.2%; specificity 96.7%; treatment 7.6%; follow-up 15.9%]. In comparison, using both HPV (16/18) and cytology (ASCUS +) as secondary tests in hrHPV positive women, decreased follow-up [HPW 13.8%, HNW 9.6%], but increased treatment [HPW 34.7%, HNW 13.9%]. CONCLUSION: Using hrHPV (any) as primary and both HPV16/18 and cytology as secondary tests, was universally acceptable without an intermediate risk group. Strategies with follow-up groups improved screening performance with smaller treatment numbers, but with effective management of the intermediate risk group as prerequisite.

Enhancing Cervical Cancer Prevention in South African Women: Primary HPV mRNA Screening with Different Genotype Combinations.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer prevention in regions with limited access to screening and HPV vaccination necessitates innovative approaches. This study explored the potential of a test-and-treat strategy using mRNA HPV tests to impact cervical cancer prevention in a high-prevalence HIV population. METHODS: A cervical screening study was conducted at three South African hospitals involving 710 under-screened, non-pregnant women (25 to 65 years) without known cervical diseases. Cytology, HPV testing, colposcopy, and biopsies were performed concurrently. Histopathologists determined final histological diagnoses based on biopsy and LLETZ histology. mRNA-HPV-genotyping for 3 (16, 18, 45) to 8 (16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 45, 52, 58) high-risk types was performed on leftover liquid-based cytology material. The preventive potential of the test-and-treat approach was estimated based on published data, reporting the causative HPV types in cervical cancer tissue from South African women. Treatment was provided as needed. RESULTS: The HPV positivity rate more than doubled from 3-type (15.2%; 95% CI: 12.6-17.8) to 8-type mRNA (31.5%; 95% CI: 28.8-34.9) combinations, significantly higher among HIV-positive women. CIN3+ prevalence among HIV-positive women (26.4%) was double that of HIV-negative women (12.9%) (p < 0.01). The 6-type combination showed the best balance of sensitivity, specificity and treatment group size, and effectiveness to prevent cervical cancer. A 4-type combination (16, 18, 35, 45) could potentially prevent 77.6% (95% CI: 71.2-84.0) of cervical cancer burden by treating 20% and detecting 41.1% of CIN3 cases in the study group. Similarly, a 6-type combination (16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 45), treating 25% and including 62% of CIN3 cases, might prevent 85% of cervical cancer cases (95% CI: 79.6-90.6) among HIV-positive and negative women. CONCLUSION: Employing mRNA HPV tests within a test-and-treat approach holds huge promise for targeted cervical cancer prevention in under-screened populations. Testing for mRNA of the 6 highest-risk HPV types in this population and treating them all is projected to effectively prevent progression from CIN3 to invasive cervical cancer while reducing overtreatment in resource-constrained settings.

Utility of Extended HPV Genotyping as Primary Cervical Screen in an Unscreened Population With High HIV Co-Infection Rate.

OBJECTIVE: Screening with primary human papillomavirus (HPV) testing has been evaluated in highly prescreened populations with lower HPV and HIV prevalence than what is the case in South Africa. High prevalence of HPV and underlying precancer in women living with HIV (WLWH) affect the clinical performance of screening tests significantly. This study investigates the utility and performance of an extended genotyping HPV test in detection of precancer in a population with a high coinfection rate with HIV. METHODS: A total of 1,001 women aged 25 to 65 years with no cervical cancer screening in the preceding 5 years were tested with cytology and primary extended genotyping HPV testing. The cohort of 1,001 women included 430 WLWH (43.0%) and 564 HIV-negative (56.3%) women. RESULTS: Abnormal cytology (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance or higher) was significantly higher in WLWH (37.2% vs 15.9%) and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion or above (23.5% vs 5.2%). The WLWH also tested positive more often for any HPV type (44.3% vs 19.6%; p < .0001) The specificity for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2+ at 91.2% of a combination of HPV types, 16/18/45 (very high risk) and 31/33/58/52 (moderate risk), performed better than cytology or any HPV-positive result to predict cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3+ on histology. The additional genotype information supports direct referral to treatment or colposcopy in a larger proportion of the screen-positive population. CONCLUSIONS: The potential contribution of extended genotyping is demonstrated. The ideal choice of sensitivity and specificity ultimately depends on the health budget. More information will allow a screening algorithm, guiding management according to risk.

Cytology compared with Hybrid Capture 2 human papilloma virus cervical cancer screening in HIV positive and HIV negative South African women.

OBJECTIVES: Cervical cancer is preventable and caused by persistent infection with oncogenic human papilloma virus (HPV) types. HPV screening is more sensitive and is the preferred screening test. HPV screening data are mainly from developed settings, and the purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of HPV screening in previously unscreened HIV positive and negative women. METHODS: In this cross sectional multicenter study, liquid based cytology and HPV testing were performed on women attending different clinics. Patients with positive screening tests had colposcopy and biopsy or large loop excision of the transformation zone. Some women with normal screening had colposcopy and biopsy. Data of women with histology results, and data of HIV positive and negative women were analyzed for comparison. For women without histology results, data were imputed using a statistical model. RESULTS: In 903 women with known HIV status, 683 (75.6%) had negative cytology, 202 women (22.4%) had abnormal cytology, and in 18 patients (2.0%) the results were uncertain. Mean age was 41.4 years (range 25-65). HPV tests were negative in 621 women (68.8%). In HIV positive women, 54.5% tested negative compared with 79.7% HIV negative women (p<0.0001). HPV screening had higher sensitivity (60.9%), but lower specificity (82.4%), compared with cytology (48.6% and 86.7%) for detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2+ in all women. For detection of CIN 3+, HPV screening had higher sensitivity (70.4%) compared with cytology (62.9%), and specificity (75.5%) was lower compared with cytology at a threshold of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS+) (82.4%). CONCLUSION: HPV screening was more sensitive than cytology in HIV positive and HIV negative women, but specificity was lower. Although HPV screening should be the preferred screening test, cytology is a suitable screening test in HIV positive women in low resource settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02956031.

Validation of ASCL1 and LHX8 Methylation Analysis as Primary Cervical Cancer Screening Strategy in South African Women with Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

BACKGROUND: Compared with women who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) negative, women with human immunodeficiency virus (WWH) have a higher human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence and increased cervical cancer risk, emphasizing the need for effective cervical cancer screening in this population. The present study aimed to validate methylation markers ASCL1 and LHX8 for primary screening in a South African cohort of WWH. METHODS: In this post hoc analysis within the DIAgnosis in Vaccine And Cervical Cancer Screen (DiaVACCS) study, a South African observational multicenter cohort study, cervical scrape samples from 411 HIV-positive women were analyzed for hypermethylation of ASCL1 and LHX8 genes, HPV DNA, and cytology. Sensitivities, specificities, and positive and negative predictive values of primary methylation-based, HPV-based and cytology-based screening were calculated for the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia of grade 3 or higher. RESULTS: Single markers ASCL1 and LHX8 resulted in a good performance for the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia of grade 3 or higher, with sensitivities of 85.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 78.2%-93.6%) and 89.7% (83.0%-96.5%), respectively, and specificities of 72.9% (67.3%-78.5%) and 75.0% (69.5%-80.5%). Combining markers ASCL1 and LHX8 resulted in a lower sensitivity compared with HPV testing (84.6% vs 93.6%, respectively; ratio, 0.90 [95% CI, .82-.99]) and a higher specificity (86.7% vs 78.3%; ratio 1.11 [1.02-1.20]) and reduced the referral rate from 46.8% to 33.4%. ASCL1/LHX8 methylation had a significantly higher sensitivity than cytology (threshold, high-grade intraepithelial squamous lesion or worse), (84.6% vs 74.0%, respectively; ratio, 1.16 [95% CI, 1.01-1.32]) and similar specificity (86.7% vs 91.0%; ratio, 0.95 [.90-1.003]). CONCLUSIONS: Our results validate the accuracy of ASCL1/LHX8 methylation analysis for primary screening in WWH, which offers a full-molecular alternative to cytology- or HPV-based screening, without the need for additional triage testing.

Posttreatment monitoring by ASCL1/LHX8 methylation analysis in women with HIV treated for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2/3.

OBJECTIVE: Women with HIV (WWH) have an increased risk to develop recurrent cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2/3 (rCIN2/3) after treatment compared with HIV-negative women. Therefore, appropriate posttreatment monitoring of WWH is important. This study evaluates the performance of ASCL1 and LHX8 methylation analysis as posttreatment monitoring test in WWH treated for CIN2/3, as alternative to cytology or human papillomavirus (HPV) as follow-up test. DESIGN: Prospective observational cohort study. METHODS: WWH treated for CIN2/3 by large loop excision of the transformation zone (LLETZ) (n  = 61) were invited for follow-up study visits at 1, 2.5 and 4 years after baseline. Baseline and follow-up cervical scrapes were tested for cytology, HPV and DNA methylation of ASCL1 and LHX8 genes. The performance of these strategies for the detection of rCIN2/3 was evaluated in the first follow-up cervical scrape. RESULTS: Thirteen (21.3%) rCIN2/3 lesions were detected within 4 years of follow-up. In women without rCIN2/3 in follow-up, methylation levels of ASCL1 and LHX8 decreased significantly after LLETZ treatment (P  = 0.02 and 0.007, respectively). In women with rCIN2/3, methylation levels remained high after LLETZ treatment. The 4-year rCIN2/3 risk was 4.9% (95% CI: 0.6-16.5) for ASCL1/LHX8-negative women, 8.1% (95% CI: 1.7-21.9) for HPV-negative women and 7.7% (95% CI: 2.1-18.5) for cytology-negative women. CONCLUSION: A negative ASCL1/LHX8 methylation test in follow-up is associated with a low rCIN2/3 risk and could serve as an objective test of cure and well tolerated alternative for HPV and/or cytology screening in the posttreatment monitoring of WWH.

Combining cervical cancer screening for mothers with schoolgirl vaccination during human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine implementation in South Africa: results from the VACCS1 and VACCS2 trials.

OBJECTIVE: The platform provided by human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for linked public health interventions to improve cervical cancer prevention remains incompletely explored. The Vaccine And Cervical Cancer Screen (VACCS) cross-sectional observation trials aimed to evaluate the efficacy of school-based HPV vaccination linked with maternal cervical cancer screening. METHODS: Girls from 29 schools in two provinces in South Africa were invited in writing to receive HPV vaccination. Two approaches to informed consent were compared, namely an audiovisual presentation (VACCS1) and in written format (VACCS2). Markers of vaccine uptake and coverage were calculated, namely uptake among the invited and consented cohorts, and rates of completion and sufficient vaccination. Mothers and female guardians received educational material about cervical cancer, and either a self-sampling device or an invitation to attend existing screening facilities. Knowledge was assessed via structured questionnaires (before and after), and screening uptake was self-reported and directly assessed and compared between these approaches. RESULTS: Vaccine acceptance among 5137 invited girls was similar for the two methods of consent; 99.3% of consented girls received a first dose; overall completion rate was 90.5%. More girls were vaccinated using a two-dose (974/1016 (95.9%)) than a three-dose regimen (1859/2030 (91.6%)). The questionnaire (n=906) showed poor maternal knowledge which improved significantly (p<0.05) after health education; only 54% of mothers reported any previous screening. The offer of a self-sampling device (n=2247) was accepted by 43.9% of mothers, but only 26% of those invited to screen at existing facilities (n=396) reported subsequent screening. CONCLUSIONS: Successful linking of primary health interventions to control cervical cancer was demonstrated. School-based HPV vaccination, linked to health education, self-sampling, and molecular screening resulted in significant improvements in knowledge and screening.

School-based human papillomavirus vaccination: An opportunity to increase knowledge about cervical cancer and improve uptake of screening.

BACKGROUND: Poor knowledge about cervical cancer plays a role in limiting screening uptake. HPV vaccination provides an untested platform to distribute information that could possibly improve knowledge and screening coverage. OBJECTIVE: To measure changes in knowledge and screening uptake when information and screening opportunities were provided to mothers of adolescent HPV vaccine recipients. METHODS: During an HPV vaccine implementation project in the Western Cape (WC) and Gauteng Province (GP), South Africa, information about cervical cancer was provided to parents during a lecture, written information was distributed, and mothers were then invited to either screen at their clinic (WC) or use a self-screening kit (GP). A structured questionnaire was used to test cervical cancer knowledge and screening practices, comparing these before and after the project and between the two screening groups. RESULTS: Complete data for both questionnaires were available for 777 of 906 recruited women. Initial knowledge was poor, but on retesting 6 months later, knowledge about symptoms (p<0.005), screening (p<0.005) and vaccination (p<0.05) improved significantly after the information session and school-based HPV vaccination. In the second questionnaire, women reported significantly more screening and the last reported screening test was more recent. This improvement was more favourable in GP than in the WC (41% v. 26% reporting screening in the past 12 months). CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate how adolescent HPV vaccine programmes can help to control cervical cancer among mothers by offering information and screening. It is important not to lose this opportunity to educate mothers and their daughters and offer effective methods to prevent cervical cancer in both generations.