{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,27]],"date-time":"2026-10-27T23:33:52Z","timestamp":1793144032973,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,6]],"date-time":"2024-12-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1733443200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Greek Ministry of Development (General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT))","award":["11\u03a3YN_10_250"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["11\u03a3YN_10_250"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In addition to chronic hrHPV anogenital infection, continuing inflammatory cervical changes are intrinsic in the development of precancerous lesions. In younger women, much of this inflammatory background parallels the progressive maturation of squamous metaplasia, often rendering treatment interventions redundant; however, patients with persistent cervical precancer, as well as those harboring invasive bacterial pathogens, might benefit from controlling the active inflammatory process by shortening the HPV natural cycle and avoiding subsequent cervical surgery. In a colposcopy population of 336 predominantly young asymptomatic individuals, we explored the impact of molecularly detected bacterial STIs on HPV DNA and APTIMA positivity rates using validated assays. In the multivariable analysis, several largely anticipated epidemiological factors were related to STI positivity. In this cohort, the HPV DNA test illustrated better performance for the prediction of STI positivity than the corresponding APTIMA test (sensitivity 52.94% vs. 33.82%), while inversely, the APTIMA test was more indicative of bacterial STI negativity than the HPV DNA test (specificity 77% vs. 60%). In addition, no significant differences between these two molecular assays were documented in terms of PPV, NPV, and overall accuracy. Despite the high Ureaplasma urealyticum and low Chlamydia trachomatis prevalence recorded in this study\u2019s population, which is among the first assessing the co-variation of bacterial STI expression with established HPV biomarkers, the APTIMA assay did not predict concurrent bacterial STIs superiorly compared with an established HPV DNA assay.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms252313146","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,6]],"date-time":"2024-12-06T10:58:45Z","timestamp":1733482725000},"page":"13146","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Could APTIMA mRNA Assay Contribute to Predicting Cervical Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Co-Infections? A Colposcopy Population Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4444-3711","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"George","family":"Valasoulis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, 41500 Larisa, Greece"},{"name":"Department of Midwifery, School of Health Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, 50100 Kozani, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0074-3619","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abraham","family":"Pouliakis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Second Department of Pathology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Attikon University Hospital, 12462 Haidari, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-5401-8499","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ioulia","family":"Magaliou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, 41500 Larisa, Greece"},{"name":"Department of Midwifery, School of Health Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, 50100 Kozani, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dimitrios","family":"Papoutsis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Midwifery, School of Health Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, 50100 Kozani, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nikoletta","family":"Daponte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, 41500 Larisa, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2420-4003","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chrysoula","family":"Margioula-Siarkou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Gynaecologic Oncology Unit, Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9244-0649","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Georgios","family":"Androutsopoulos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7300-9514","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexandros","family":"Daponte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, 41500 Larisa, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3555-8867","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Georgios","family":"Michail","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Valasoulis, G., Pouliakis, A., Michail, G., Magaliou, I., Parthenis, C., Margari, N., Kottaridi, C., Spathis, A., Leventakou, D., and Ieronimaki, A.-I. 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