Assessment of the possible inhibitory effect of carrageenan in human papillomavirus DNA testing by polymerase chain reaction amplification. Issue 11 (1st April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Laurie, Cassandra; El‐Zein, Mariam; Franco, Eduardo L.; Coutlée, François
• Is Part Of: Journal of medical virology. Volume 93:Issue 11(2021)
• Page Start: 6408
• Page End: 6411
• Publication Date: 2021-04-01
• Subjects: carrageenan -- female -- gels -- human papillomavirus -- nucleic acid amplification techniques; Virology -- Periodicals; 616
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.26963
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-6615

Abstract

Abstract: We assessed carrageenan's potential to inhibit human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA extraction and amplification in vaginal swab samples collected in a trial, assessing the efficacy of a carrageenan‐based gel against HPV infections. Experiment #1 consisted of adding gel (carrageenan‐containing or placebo) to swabs and comparing HPV DNA detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to unmanipulated samples collected from the same participants. For Experiments #2 and #3, we tested vaginal samples for inhibition by addition of an internal control and amplification by real‐time PCR. Experiment #4 investigated carrageenan's interference with the extraction process by assessing HPV45 detectability in undiluted and diluted HPV45 positive samples ( n = 3) with carrageenan versus no gel. In Experiment #1, there was a loss of HPV positivity with the addition of carrageenan ( n = 9), but none with placebo gel ( n = 5). In Experiments #2 and #3, the absence of the amplified product was observed in samples from the carrageenan arm: 3.3% (1/30) and 0.5% (1/199) of samples. In Experiment #4, HPV45 was not detected in undiluted carrageenan‐containing samples, but after 1/50 dilution, the same HPV45 copy number was detected. Carrageenan does not affect the DNA extraction process, and inhibition of HPV DNA amplification by carrageenan occurs infrequently.