Study results and related evidence do not support use of HPV16 L1 DRH1 antibodies as a cancer screening test

In their recent article, Weiland et al. suggest that an assay measuring HPV16 L1 DRH1 antibodies could be used for early detection of HPV-driven cancers. We believe it is unethical to recommend this assay to patients as a screening test, because its harms would outweigh any (unproven) benefit in avoiding cancer mortality [1]. Since HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer is rare, 99% of positive tests would be false-positives with the assay characteristics as stated by the authors (Table 1, Scenario 1).

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