Study establishes the efficacy of the PCDHGB7 hypermethylation-based Cervical Cancer Methylation (CerMe) method to detect women at a higher risk of contracting human papillomavirus (HPV).
Study
The current prospective and blinded study proposed the CerMe detection method for screening women at a high risk of HPV. A total of 3,251 hrHPV-positive women who were outpatients of the International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital were recruited. All study participants were 30 years of age or older and underwent both HPV and cytology testing at the hospital.
All participants were referred for colposcopy, with the remaining samples used for methylation tests. The clinical information and methylation results of the selected participants were used to establish the CerMe detection method.
Results
The PCDHGB7 hypermethylation-based bisulfite-free detection CerMe method was established as a triage for hrHPV-positive women to reduce unnecessary over-referrals to colposcopy. To better understand its effectiveness and practicality, it was tested based on age, cytology, hrHPV subtypes, and CerMe values.
Compared to the FAM19A4/miR124-2 methylation detection method, the CerMe detection method was associated with superior performance capabilities regarding its sensitivity and specificity for CIN2+ and cervical cancer. Several existing methods are associated with a mandatory bisulfite treatment step, which may lead to sample loss and reduced cancer detection sensitivity.
CIN1- and CIN2+ cervical lesions account for differential cancer risks and clinical treatments. Notably, the CerMe method successfully detected the type of cervical lesions, which could be used to identify women at a higher risk of cervical cancer.
The CerMe method outperformed existing cytology methods, particularly those used to detect women with cervical cancer between 30 and 40 years of age. As compared to cytological tests for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC) to detect cervical cancer, the CerMe detection method was more sensitive and accurate.
Conclusion
It is crucial to identify women who are at a high risk of HPV, as these women could be protected from the development of cervical cancer. The study findings demonstrate the potential of the CerMe detection method to reduce over-referrals, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment.
In the future, long-term follow-up is needed to assess the clinical effectiveness of this method. At present, a follow-up study is being conducted to evaluate the predictive value of CerMe detection for disease progression using a large cohort of high-risk patients.
Source:
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20240208/New-cervical-cancer-detection-method-promises-to-reduce-unnecessary-screenings.aspx