At-home test could boost screening for cervical cancer

PARIS: An at-home, non-invasive screening for cervical pre-cancer could increase compliance with recommended follow-up tests, according to research presented Monday at a cancer conference.

The new screening, called the S5 test, is based on a urine sample or a vaginal swab that women can collect themselves at home and have sent to a lab. Researchers look for a change in DNA associated with a human gene and the four most dangerous types of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted infection linked to cervical cancer. The protocol was developed by Belinda Nedjai of the Molecular Epidemiology Lab at Queen Mary University to increase the compliance of women who do not return to the clinic after an abnormal test result. These are typically older women who find the follow-up painful, she said.

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