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Utility of methylation markers in cervical cancer early detection: appraisal of the state-of-the-science.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:We wanted to identify the most promising methylation marker candidates for cervical cancer early detection. METHODS:A systematic literature review was performed in Medline and weighted average frequencies for methylated genes stratified by tissue source and methods used were computed. RESULTS:51 studies were identified analyzing 68 different genes for methylation in 4376 specimens across all stages of cervical carcinogenesis. 15 genes, DAPK1, RASSF1, CDH1, CDKN2A, MGMT, RARB, APC, FHIT, MLH1, TIMP3, GSTP1, CADM1, CDH13, HIC1, and TERT have been analyzed in 5 or more studies. The published data on these genes is highly heterogeneous; 7 genes (CDH1, FHIT, TERT, CDH13, MGMT, TIMP3, and HIC1) had a reported range of methylation frequencies in cervical cancers of greater than 60% between studies. Stratification by analysis method did not resolve the heterogeneity. Three markers, DAPK1, CADM1, and RARB, showed elevated methylation in cervical cancers consistently across studies. CONCLUSIONS:There is currently no methylation marker that can be readily translated for use in cervical cancer screening or triage settings. Large, well-conducted methylation profiling studies of cervical carcinogenesis could yield new candidates that are more specific for HPV-related carcinogenesis. New candidate markers need to be thoroughly validated in highly standardized assays.

SUBMITTER: Wentzensen N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2673716 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Utility of methylation markers in cervical cancer early detection: appraisal of the state-of-the-science.

Wentzensen Nicolas N Sherman Mark E ME Schiffman Mark M Wang Sophia S SS

Gynecologic oncology 20081202 2

<h4>Objective</h4>We wanted to identify the most promising methylation marker candidates for cervical cancer early detection.<h4>Methods</h4>A systematic literature review was performed in Medline and weighted average frequencies for methylated genes stratified by tissue source and methods used were computed.<h4>Results</h4>51 studies were identified analyzing 68 different genes for methylation in 4376 specimens across all stages of cervical carcinogenesis. 15 genes, DAPK1, RASSF1, CDH1, CDKN2A, ...[more]

PMID: 19054549

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most lethal gynecological cancer, worldwide, largely due to its vague and nonspecific early stage symptoms, resulting in most tumors being found at advanced stages. Moreover, due to its relative rarity, there are currently no satisfactory methods for OC screening, which remains a controversial and cost-prohibitive issue. Here, we demonstrate that Papanicolaou test (Pap test) cervical scrapings, instead of blood, can reveal genetic/epigenetic information for OC detection, using specific and sensitive DNA methylation biomarkers. RESULTS:We analyzed the methylomes of tissues (50 OC tissues versus 6 normal ovarian epithelia) and cervical scrapings (5 OC patients versus 10 normal controls), and integrated public methylomic datasets, including 79 OC tissues and 6 normal tubal epithelia. Differentially methylated genes were further classified by unsupervised hierarchical clustering, and each candidate biomarker gene was verified in both OC tissues and cervical scrapings by either quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (qMSP) or bisulfite pyrosequencing. A risk-score by logistic regression was generated for clinical application. One hundred fifty-one genes were classified into four clusters, and nine candidate hypermethylated genes from these four clusters were selected. Among these, four genes fulfilled our selection criteria and were validated in training and testing set, respectively. The OC detection accuracy was demonstrated by area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) in 0.80-0.83 of AMPD3, 0.79-0.85 of AOX1, 0.78-0.88 of NRN1, and 0.82-0.85 of TBX15. From this, we found OC-risk score, equation generated by logistic regression in training set and validated an OC-associated panel comprising AMPD3, NRN1, and TBX15, reaching a sensitivity of 81%, specificity of 84%, and OC detection accuracy of 0.91 (95% CI, 0.82-1) in testing set. CONCLUSIONS:Ovarian cancer detection from cervical scrapings is feasible, using particularly promising epigenetic biomarkers such as AMPD3/NRN1/TBX15. Further validation is warranted.

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Dataset Information

Utility of methylation markers in cervical cancer early detection: appraisal of the state-of-the-science.

Publications

Utility of methylation markers in cervical cancer early detection: appraisal of the state-of-the-science.

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