Research progression on triage of human papillomavirus positive women

Persistently high risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is one of the indispensable factors of cervical cancer, which is the secondly most common cancer of women in developing countries. Nowadays HPV DNA detection has been more frequently used in cervical cancer initial screening. However, the specificity and sensitivity of HPV DNA detection are low and the triage of HPV positive women is necessary to identify the authentically high-risk population, and avoid the waste of health care resource and excessive treatment. There are different advantages and disadvantages in triage methods including the cytology, HPV DNA genotype, HPV mRNA detection and biological markers such as p16/Ki-67, respectively. Here we briefly describe and evaluate each triage method. Key words: Cervical neoplasms; High risk human papillomavirus; Biological markers; Triage