UC to open national trial to study self-testing for HPV, cervical cancer

Leeya Pinder, MD, local principal investigator of the trial, said there are several ways to screen for cervical cancer. But primary HPV testing, rather than other methods including Pap and HPV cotesting, shows the most promise for being an effective self-testing method. 

“It really gives people the opportunity to just do a vaginal swab or a cervico-vaginal swab so that they can get tested for high-risk HPV, which is usually the driver of cervical precancer and cervical cancer,” said Pinder, a Cancer Center member and associate professor in the UC College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology. “What we’ve been trying to do over the last several years is prove that women can actually do HPV testing on their own.” 

While other countries have approved self-collection HPV testing, the method is not currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Pinder said previous studies have shown self-testing methods are effective, especially for certain underscreened populations. 

“Those populations include those who sometimes struggle with substance abuse, sometimes have a history of trauma or other kinds of abuse, those that are concerned about their immigration status or actually, many things,” she said. “These are reaching the people who for whatever reason do not have great access to a health care provider to get their cervical cancer screening.” 

In the SHIP trial, patients who already have a scheduled appointment for a colposcopy, an examination of the cervix, vagina and vulva, will self-test in the clinic before providers collect samples for HPV testing and continue with their routine scheduled procedure as they normally would.  

“These patients are getting two swabs, so the goal is to provide additional data that this works so that the FDA has more evidence by which to approve self-testing as a means by which we could actually target populations with limited access,” Pinder said. 

In addition to self-testing potentially increasing access to cervical cancer screening, prevention and early detection and treatment, Pinder said she is excited at the potential to personalize outreach and education to individual communities’ unique population and needs.