About PreTect, our mission and our services

At PreTect, we have developed a test specifically designed for women under 34 who are at risk of having early signs of cancer missed. We have developed our test to be used in collaboration with cytology to ensure higher safety for women and as a diagnostic aid to prevent cervical cancer. The women under 34 are only screened by cytology which looks for changes in cells through a microscope which can result in misdiagnosis due to the limitations of the method.

We provide testing of cervical samples for HPV mRNA. HPV is the virus that is required for a woman to develop cervical cancer. Most women will have an HPV infection throughout their lifetime, but this is usually cleared by the body’s own immune system. It is the women who have infections of certain HPV types that are of concern, as these types are known to contribute towards cell changes, the first step on the road to cervical cancer.

This differs from an HPV DNA test that is available to some women in the national screening programme.

HPV mRNA test

  • Detects whether HPV is active

  • Tests for only 3 types; 16, 18 and 45 as these cause the majority of cervical cancers

  • Tells you which type of HPV is active, this is useful as some HPV types are more dangerous

HPV DNA test

  • Detects the presence of HPV

  • Tests for many HPV types, so a positive result could be any type of a long list

  • Often doesn’t tell which type of HPV is present, just says positive or negative

Over the past 5 years we have been completing a project with Universitetssykehuset Nord-Norge to test over 100,000 samples to prove the ability of our test in helping women to avoid cervical cancer. Many women have had precancerous abnormalities that required treatment found as a result of this study that were missed by the regular screening programme. The experiences of some of these women have recently been discussed in these NRK articles (read articles featuring Berit’s story or Tonje’s story).

Our test is designed to detect whether or not HPV is active in your cervix because this puts you at a known higher risk of developing precancerous lesions. Our test, PreTect SEE, detects the activity of 3 types of HPV; types 16, 18 and 45, as it is well documented that these are the leading causes of cervical cancer, even among women who have a “normal” smear result. Among young women HPV infections are common, so the HPV DNA test is not offered to these patients because there will be many positive results not associated with cancer and therefore a risk of over treatment. A positive HPV mRNA result, on the other hand, requires further investigation regardless of the age of the woman. Our focus is on finding the few women who require further examination from the many that do not.

The PreTect SEE can be carried out on the same smear sample taken during a routine check-up with your clinician.

For any enquiries, or for more information, please use the form provided through the button.