Comparison of human papillomavirus genotyping using commercial assays based on PCR and reverse hybridization methods

Different tests for human papillomavirus (HPV) screening are commercially available, detecting high-risk oncogenic HPV types with a pool of genotype-specific probes. However, it is necessary to establish reliable methods for the identification of individual genotypes. The purpose of this study was to compare three different commercial methods for HPV genotyping: INNO-LiPA HPV Genotyping v2 (LiPA), Linear Arrays HPV Genotyping Test (LA) and Clinical Arrays Human Papillomavirus (CA). A total of 83 HPV DNA-positive samples by hybrid capture method were genotyped (82, 78 and 81 by LiPA, LA and CA, respectively). Comparison analysis was limited to the HPV genotypes common to the three assays. There were concordant results (absolute agreement between assays) in 31 samples (39.7%) and compatible results (correspondence for some but not all genotypes) were found in 44 samples (56.4%). Only three samples (3.8%) were considered as discordant (did not show any similarity between the tests). Analyzing kappa values we have a very good agreement (> 0.8) for HPV16 and HPV31 and good agreement (0.6-0.8) for HPV types 6, 18, 53 and 66 when all methods are compared. We conclude that all genotyping methods tested are highly comparable and suitable for clinical and epidemiological studies.