HPV16 is the most frequent HPV types associated with invasive cervical cancers as well in anal and head&neck ,so its specific identification has to be considered
In the market thera are a very large numbers the genotyping test and it is well known that the different genotyping test has some analitical difference in performance . In this contest it is important to underline that WHO HPV Proficiency Panel results show the genotping tests have very good performance across the lab for the HPV 16 detection while the main differences between the tests are related to identification of other HPV types. Similarly HPV tests validated for screening which allow a partial genotyping have high performance in terms of reproducibility and specificity for HPV 16 genotyping.
In a screening setting when hpv test is used as primary screening test a testing with separate HPV16 and HPV18 detection can provide an alternative triage methods than cytology triage as well to follow women with abnormal screening results who are negative at colposcopy/biopsy and to predict the therapeutic outcome after treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).
In women HPV vaccinated screening programs will change and the HPV test to be used has yet to be identified.
For anal neoplasia, genotyping, in general population ,is less important, because most of lesions are due to HPV 16, while it could be an important finding in HIV-positive subjects, but in this case it is appropriate a genotyping test able to identify all hpv types.
An increasing proportion of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCCs) is associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 infection. The identification of the presence of HPV infection has clinical relevance, since there are important differences between tumors HPV-related and non. The first shows a tendency to grow in the oropharynx compared to other anatomical regions of the head and neck, an earlier age at diagnosis, and especially a more favorable prognosis and a better response to radio and chemotherapy treatments.
However survival studies have shown that the mere detection of HPV 16 DNA seems to be insufficient to identify the fraction actually related to viral infection. The simultaneous evaluation dell'overespressione the p16 protein or mRNA E6 / E7 of HPV allow proper identification of the fraction attributable to HPV.
The clinical utility of HPV 16 genotyping is clinical rilevant in different setting and not only for cervix but also for other HPV related cancer