Introduction: The present study describes the development and evaluation of the first multiplex type-specific quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR), enabling simple, rapid, sensitive, and specific concurrent detection and differentiation of human papillomavirus (HPV) types HPV2, 27, and 57 in a single PCR reaction.
Results: The HPV2/27/57 multiplex RT-PCR with a dynamic range of seven orders of magnitude (discriminating 10 to 108 viral genome equivalents/reaction) has an analytical sensitivity of at least 10 viral copies of each targeted HPV type/reaction, and no cross-reactivities were observed among the included targets. All three primer/probe combinations were efficient in amplifying 500 copies of targeted DNA in a background of 108, 107, 500, 100, and 10 copies of non-targeted viral DNA/reaction, and the performance of the HPV2/27/57 multiplex RT-PCR was additionally not affected by the presence of background human genomic DNA. When testing DNA isolates obtained from fresh-frozen tissue specimens of various children's warts, the results of the HPV2/27/57 multiplex RT-PCR were completely in line with the results of the conventional Low-risk Alpha-PV PCR.
Conclusion: The newly developed HPV2/27/57 multiplex RT-PCR is an appropriate test for use in routine clinical laboratory settings and for studies focusing on the molecular epidemiology, pathogenesis, and natural history of HPV2/27/57-related lesions.
Keywords: HPV27; and HPV57; detection; differentiation; human papillomavirus types HPV2; multiplex type-specific quantitative real-time PCR development..