Urine sample as a biomarker for human papillomavirus detection

Introduction: The use of urine samples for the detection or screening of cer­vical cancer based on Human Papillomavirus has had high acceptability by women, being a non-invasive method. This study evaluates the performance of testing for Human Papillomavirus in urine samples compared to cervicovaginal samples as a Gold Standard. Methods: A non-systematic review of the scien­tific literature was carried out in order to compile information on published research results related to Human Papillomavirus and the use of urine samples as a biomarker for the diagnosis of cervical cancer, in databases such as Pub­Med, Scopus, Lilacs and Web of Science. Results: In the 13 selected articles, the number of participants in each study ranged from 5 to 543 women, aged 18 to 82 years. The sensitivity and specificity in cervicovaginal samples reported were 63.9% to 95% and 32.69% to 95% respectively, while the sensitivity range in urine samples was 48.1% to 93% and specificity 32.14% to 97%. Discussion: The results of this study demonstrate that urine is a sample that can be used in screening tests for Human Papillomavirus infection, which should be subjected to further testing to increase its diagnostic accuracy.