Patent ID: 8343738

Claim:
An assay for screening for potential cervical cancer in a human subject comprising: treating a single sample from the human subject with a bisulfite reagent under conditions that cause unmethylated cytosines in human papilloma virus (HPV) nucleic acid in the sample to be converted to uracil to form derivative HPV nucleic acid from the HPV in the sample and cause unmethylated cytosines in human genomic nucleic acid in the sample to be converted to uracil to form derivative human genomic nucleic acid from human genomic nucleic acid in the sample; contacting the treated sample with primers capable of binding to regions of derivative HPV nucleic acid, the primers being capable of allowing amplification of a desired HPV-specific nucleic acid molecule of the derivative HPV nucleic acid; contacting the treated single sample with primers capable of binding to a region of derivative human genomic nucleic acid, the primers being capable of allowing amplification of the region of derivative human genomic nucleic acid to yield a target genomic specific nucleic acid amplification product, wherein the region of derivative human genomic nucleic acid is derivatized from a region of the human genome in which the methylation status is known to be associated with the potential for cervical cancer in a human subject; carrying out an amplification reaction on the treated single sample containing derivative HPV nucleic acid, the derivative human genomic nucleic acid, and the primers; and determining potential for cervical cancer in the human subject by assaying for the presence of an amplified HPV-specific nucleic acid product and said target genomic specific nucleic acid amplification product wherein the presence of both an amplified HPV-specific nucleic acid and said target genomic specific nucleic acid amplification product are indicative of a level of risk for cervical cancer.