Application of Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer in detection of human papilloma virus.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility of using Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer in the detection and genotyping of human papilloma virus (HPV). METHODS: The consensus sequence of highly conserved region (L1) and genotype-specific gene fragments of all HPV genotypes (including HPV6, 11, 16 and 18) were amplified by PCR technique using general and type-specific primers respectively. Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer and routine agarose gel electrophoresis were then employed respectively to examine the PCR products, and the accuracy, reproducibility and sensitivity of these 2 detection techniques were compared. RESULTS: Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer showed better accuracy in determining the length of the gene fragments than agarose gel electrophoresis, the accuracy of the former reaching above 95% while the latter was only 85%. Bioanalyzer was also 100 times more sensitive than agarose electrophoresis. CONCLUSIONS: Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer combined with PCR is specific, accurate and sensitive for HPV detection and genotyping.