P2.45 High burden of persistent oncogenic hpv infection in high-risk, hiv-negative men who have sex with men using a novel hpv e6/e7 mrna assay

Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) is a necessary step in anal cancer’s pathogenesis. With no universally-accepted guidelines on screening, and given the suboptimal performance of cytology, anal HPV testing is increasingly recognised as an important, adjunctive screening tool for anal cancer precursors. mRNA-based HPV assays targeting the E6/7 oncogenes are emerging as more specific tests for persistent HPV than …