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Clin. Vaccine Immunol. doi:10.1128/CVI.00118-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Evaluation of Two Types of Sponges Used in the Collection of Cervical Secretions for Recovery of Neutralizing Anti-HPV16 Antibodies and Methods for Improving Antibody Extraction

HPV Immunology Laboratory, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., NCI-Frederick, Frederick, MD, USA, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, Laboratory of Cellular Oncology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, Proyecto Epidemiológico Guanacaste, San José, Costa Rica

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: lpinto{at}ncifcrf.gov.

	Abstract

Immunogenicity evaluation in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine trials have relied on serological samples, yet cervical antibodies are likely to be the most relevant for protection against infection. In order to assess functional antibody levels at the cervix, the secreted alkaline phosphatase – neutralization assay (SEAP-NA) was used to measure HPV neutralizing activity. We assessed variability of the SEAP-NA with HPV16 L1 virus-like particle (VLP) post-vaccinated serum samples, and whether SEAP-NA can be used to monitor cervical neutralizing activity. SEAP-NA has an overall coefficient of variation of 29.3%. Recovery from ophthalmic sponges was assessed by spiking and extracting V5 (mouse anti-HPV16) antibody from sterile and participant Merocel and Ultracell sponges. V5 recovery from sterile Merocels was complete yet null from Ultracells. The mean V5 recovery from participant Ultracell and Merocel sponges was 61.2% and 93.5%, respectively, suggesting that Merocels are more appropriate for specimen collection. The SEAP-NA can be applied to determine surrogates of protection and examine the durability of protection at the cervix.