Home test for papilloma virus developed

Shanziana Foya, who is conducting research at Imperial College London, has developed a non-invasive test for the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, the BBC reports . Kosa.media drew attention to the publication.

Currently, women are tested for HPV by taking a cervical smear. However, as the publication writes, Foya has developed a device called Papcup, which, using a menstrual blood sample, allows for testing at home in just 15 minutes instead of the days or even weeks required for a conventional HPV test.

"It's a small device about the size of my fist. You add a menstrual blood sample that you collect with a swab. It has a biosensor that reads how much HPV is in the sample and gives you a result in about 15 minutes," Foya said.

At the moment, the Papcup device has passed the feasibility stage and its prototype is currently being developed. Clinical trials will begin as soon as it is ready.

“We have developed the mechanical design, the electronics, and the proof of concept of the biosensors. Now we need to put it all together and demonstrate it, attract investment to improve the biosensor, and then conduct clinical trials to eventually introduce it to women as a finished product,” Foja continues.

In the UK, around a third of women do not visit their gynaecologists for smear tests, missing out on the chance to detect HPV strains that can cause cancer, according to the National Health Service.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide. In 2018, an article in the journal Cancer Epidemiology stated that cervical cancer mortality in Russia has become one of the leading causes of death among young women, and the leading cause of death among all oncological diseases.

Thus, if in 2000 12,342 such cases were identified, in 2010 there were already 14,719, in 2021 - more than 15,000. Moreover, in the group of women under 40 years of age, the increase was more than 60%, and in the group under 29 years of age - 150%.

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