Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Outcomes of HPV type-specific serostatus do not associate with oral or
genital HPV-carriage in non-vaccinated women followed for three years
Version: 
1 
Date: 
18 Feb 2022
Reviewer's report:
"PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS: 
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses one
or several testable research questions? (Brief or other article types: is there a
clear objective?)
Yes - there is a clear objective
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols)
appropriate for the objective?
No - there are minor issues
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with sufficient
technical rigor to allow confidence in the results?
No - there are minor issues
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?
Yes - appropriate statistical analyses have been used in the study
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results
reasonable and not overstated?
No - there are minor issues
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Has the author addressed your
concerns sufficiently for you to now recommend the work as a technically sound
contribution? If not, can further revisions be made to make the work technically
sound?
Probably - with minor revisions
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS: 
GENERAL COMMENTS: The authors correct their manuscript according to
comments.
This is in general a nice epidemiological study that offers some information on
HPV infection.
What is problematic (and not raised) is the study period. Their oral, genital and
blood specimens date from almost 20 years. Were they analyzed back then and
reported only now (this is probably the case, given their previous publications
and referencing at them for technique details)? Were they analyzed today? In
both cases, this is a serious limitation: if analyzed now, the quality is more than
questionable, if analyzed back then, the detection methods have been very much
involved since.
Having said that, the interest is also limited, given the nowadays high
vaccination level of the population.
REQUESTED REVISIONS: 
What is problematic (and not raised) is the study period. Their oral, genital and
blood specimens date from almost 20 years. Were they analyzed back then and
reported only now (this is probably the case, given their previous publications
and referencing at them for technique details)? Were they analyzed today? In
both cases, this is a serious limitation: if analyzed now, the quality is more than
questionable, if analyzed back then, the detection methods have been very much
involved since.
Having said that, the interest is also limited, given the nowadays high
vaccination level of the population.
Also, there is no mechanistic explanation. How do vaccines succeed but infection
does not? What the different mechanism of protection?
Similarly, there is almost no discussion of previous similar studies, after decades
of HPV-associated knowledge, this is the first study to report these results?"
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Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use
of appropriate controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence
presented?
No
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
No
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?
Yes
Is the presentation of the work clear?
Yes
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free
from apparent manipulation?
Yes