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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, September 2001, p. 955-958, Vol. 8, No. 5
1071-412X/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.8.5.955-958.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Detection of Y Chromosome DNA as Evidence of Semen in Cervicovaginal Secretions of Sexually Active Women

Nicolas Chomont,1 Gérard Grésenguet,2 Michel Lévy,3 Hakim Hocini,1 Pierre Becquart,1 Mathieu Matta,4 Juliette Tranchot-Diallo,1 Laurent Andreoletti,4 Marie-Paule Carreno,1 Michel D. Kazatchkine,1 and Laurent Bélec1,4,*

INSERM U430, Hôpital Broussais,1 Département de Statistiques, Université René Descartes,3 and Laboratoire de Virologie, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou,4 Paris, France, and Centre National de Référence des Maladies Sexuellement Transmissibles et du SIDA, Bangui, Central African Republic2

Received 26 February 2001/Returned for modification 1 May 2001/Accepted 29 May 2001

The detection of traces of semen in cervicovaginal secretions (CVS) from sexually active women practicing unprotected sex is a prerequisite for the accurate study of cervicovaginal immunity. Two semen markers, the prostatic-specific antigen (PSA) and the Y chromosome, were detected in parallel in CVS obtained by a standardized vaginal washing of consecutive women attending the principal medical center for sexually transmitted diseases of Bangui, Central African Republic. PSA was detected by immunoenzymatic capture assay in the cell-free fraction of CVS, and the Y chromosome was detected by a single PCR assay of DNA extracted by silica from the cell fraction (Y PCR). Fifty (19%) cell-free fractions of the 264 beta -globin-positive CVS samples were positive for PSA, and 100 (38%) cell fractions of the CVS samples were positive for the Y chromosome. All the 50 (19%) PSA-containing CVS samples were also positive for the Y chromosome. Fifty (19%) CVS samples were positive only for the Y chromosome, with no detectable PSA. The remaining 164 (62%) CVS samples were both PSA and Y chromosome negative. These findings demonstrate that CVS from sexually active women may contain cell-associated semen residues unrecognized by conventional immunoenzymatic assays used to detect semen components. The detection of cell-associated male DNA with a highly sensitive and specific procedure such as Y PCR constitutes a method of choice to detect semen traces in female genital secretions.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratoire de Virologie, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, 20 rue Leblanc, 75 908 Paris Cedex 15, France. Phone: 331 56 09 39 59. Fax: 331 56 09 24 47. E-mail: laurent.belec{at}egp.ap-hop-paris.fr.

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, September 2001, p. 955-958, Vol. 8, No. 5
1071-412X/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.8.5.955-958.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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