The US-based oncology research organization Preventative Oncology International (POI) forms collaboration with BGI and Peking University Shenzhen Hospital using MALDI-TOF HPV detection on BGI’s high-throughput PCR platform in the well-known Shenzhen Cervical Cancer Prevention Research Project II (SHENCCAST II) to study and compare large volumes of clinical samples taken by a doctor and samples conducted by the patients.
The results confirm that the MALDI-TOF self-conducted sample test results have the same effect on the sensitivity and specificity as the results of the HC-2 doctor's sample test, with no significant difference. This technology solves the conventional issues e.g. reliance on seeing a doctor for a cervical cancer screening, and low-throughput but high-detection-cost sampling and screening techniques. It makes it possible for the patients to take their own samples, and the test centers to larger volumes of samples using high-throughput technology at much lower costs.