Detection and quantitation of human papillomavirus type 16, 18 and 52 DNA in the peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients

In this study, real-time PCR detected HPV-16, -18 or -52 DNA in the peripheral blood of more than one-fourth of invasive cervical cancer patients. The association between risk of cancer recurrence and the amount of viral DNA detected in blood among cervical cancer patients after treatment is intriguing and deserves further investigation.