Extracellular cancer­associated fibroblasts: A novel subgroup in the cervical cancer microenvironment that exhibits tumor­promoting roles and prognosis biomarker functions.

Tumor invasion and metastasis are the processes that primarily cause adverse outcomes in patients with cervical cancer. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which participate in cancer progression and metastasis, are novel targets for the treatment of tumors. The present study aimed to assess the heterogeneity of CAFs in the cervical cancer microenvironment through single-cell RNA sequencing. After collecting five cervical cancer samples and obtaining the CAF-associated gene sets, the CAFs in the cervical cancer microenvironment were divided into myofibroblastic CAFs and extracellular (ec)CAFs. The ecCAFs appeared with more robust pro-tumorigenic effects than myCAFs according to enrichment analysis. Subsequently, through combining the ecCAF hub genes and bulk gene expression data for cervical cancer obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Ontology databases, univariate Cox regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator analyses were performed to establish a CAF-associated risk signature for patients with cancer. The established risk signature demonstrated a stable and strong prognostic capability in both the training and validation cohorts. Subsequently, the association between the risk signature and clinical data was evaluated, and a nomogram to facilitate clinical application was established. The risk score was demonstrated to be associated with both the tumor immune microenvironment and the therapeutic responses. Moreover, the signature also has predictive value for the prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and bladder urothelial carcinoma, which were also associated with human papillomavirus infection. In conclusion, the present study assessed the heterogeneity of CAFs in the cervical cancer microenvironment, and a subgroup of CAFs that may be closely associated with tumor progression was defined. Moreover, a signature based on the hub genes of ecCAFs was shown to have biomarker functionality in terms of predicting survival rates, and therefore this CAF subgroup may become a therapeutic target for cervical cancer in the future.

Retrospective analysis of cytology and high-risk HPV testing in 1067 endocervical adenocarcinomas and precursor lesions.

BACKGROUND: Cytology and high-risk human papilloma virus (hrHPV) cotesting is the mainstay in the detection of cervical carcinoma. METHODS: Endocervical adenocarcinoma (EAC) is divided into HPV-associated adenocarcinoma (HPVA) and HPV-independent adenocarcinoma (HPVI) by the World Health Organization classification (2020). The detection effect of cotesting is suggested to be different among EAC subtypes and precursors, but has not well-documented yet. In this study, the authors retrospectively analyzed cotesting among adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS), HPVA, and HPVI. The cohort included 569 AIS and 498 EAC consisting of 371 (74.5%) HPVA, 111 (22.3%) HPVI, and 16 (3.2%) adenocarcinoma, not otherwise specified. RESULTS: The authors found that AIS patients were significantly younger than HPVA and HPVI (mean ± SD, years: 40.7 ± 8.6; HPVA, 44.8 ± 9.3; HPVI, 50.0 ± 11.3; p < .001) and had a higher prevalence of concurrent squamous intraepithelial lesions (75.5%, HPVA, 37.2%; HPVI, 12.6%; p < .001). The detection rate of hrHPV test or cytology was substantially higher in AIS and HPVA than in HPVI (97.7% and 90.2% vs. 16.5%, p < .001, or 71.1% and 71.9% vs. 60.7%, p = .042, respectively). Cytology and hrHPV cotesting was superior to a single test in the detection of EAC and AIS. The detection rate of cotesting amounted to 100% in AIS and 94.3% in HPVA but was substantially lower in HPVI (72.2%) (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The authors conclude that cytology and hrHPV cotesting can maximize the detection effect for HPVA and AIS but is not optimal for HPVI.

Invasive stratified mucin-producing carcinoma (ISMC) of the cervix: a clinicopathological and molecular analysis of 59 cases with special emphasis on histogenesis and potential therapeutic targets.

AIMS: This study aimed to better characterize the clinical and molecular features in invasive stratified mucin-producing carcinoma (ISMC), an uncommon aggressive subtype of endocervical adenocarcinoma (EAC). METHODS AND RESULTS: We recruited 59 ISMC for clinicopathological analysis, immunohistochemistry (n = 56), and targeted next-generation sequencing (n = 17). Our cases contained 29 pure and 30 mixed-type ISMC. Five patients developed local recurrence at 6-32 months (median: 13 months), and died of disease at 16-55 months (median: 16 months). Pure and mixed-type ISMC showed no significant difference in overall survival and tumour relapse (P > 0.05) except larger tumour size in the pure-type (P = 0.009). Compared to the usual-type EAC (n = 217), ISMsC were more frequently associated with large tumour size (P = 0.003), advanced FIGO stage (P = 0.017), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.022), Silva pattern C (P < 0.001), and poor overall survival and short tumour recurrence. SOX2 expression was observed in 82.1% (46/56) ISMC, substantially higher than p63 expression (P < 0.001), while positive SOX17 was present in 3.6% (2/56) cases. PD-L1 was positive in 41/56 ISMC (73.21%) (combined positive score: range: 1-92, median: 22). Three ISMC patients (17.65%) had PIK3CA mutations, while one each (5.88%) patient harboured an ERBB2, TP53, STK11, and PTEN mutation, respectively. CONCLUSION: We conclude that ISMC is clinically more aggressive than the usual-type EAC. ISMC may originate from cervical reserve cells with bidirectional differentiation. PD-L1 overexpression and the molecular profiles raise the possibility that a subset of ISMC patients may benefit from anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy and other targeted therapy, such as mTOR inhibitor and T-DM1.

Clinical characteristics of single human papillomavirus 53 infection: a retrospective study of 419 cases.

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main cause of cervical cancer. Characteristics of HPV infections, including the HPV genotype and duration of infection, determine a patient's risk of high-grade lesions. Risk quantification of cervical lesions caused by different HPV genotypes is an important component of evaluation of cervical lesion. Data and evidence are necessary to gain a deeper understanding of the pathogenicity of different HPV genotypes. The present study investigated the clinical characteristics of patients infected with single human papillomavirus (HPV) 53. METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed the clinical data of patients who underwent cervical colposcopy guided biopsy between October 2015 and January 2021. The clinical outcomes and the follow-up results of the patients with single HPV53 infection were described. RESULTS: 82.3% of the initial histological results of all 419 patients with single HPV53 infection showed negative (Neg). The number of patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)1, CIN2, CIN3, vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia (VaIN)1, CIN1 + VaIN1, CIN1 + VaIN2, and CIN2 + VaIN2 was 45, 10, 2, 9, 6, 1, and 1, respectively. Cancer was not detected in any patient. When the cytology was negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy (NILM), atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) or low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), we observed a significant difference in the distribution of histological results (P < 0.05). 95 patients underwent follow-up with cytology according to the exclusion criteria. No progression of high-grade lesions was observed during the follow-up period of 3-34 months. CONCLUSIONS: The lesion caused by HPV53 infection progressed slowly. The pathogenicity of a single HPV53 infection was low.

The application of deep learning based diagnostic system to cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions recognition in colposcopy images.

Background Deep learning has presented considerable potential and is gaining more importance in computer assisted diagnosis. As the gold standard for pathologically diagnosing cervical intraepithelial lesions and invasive cervical cancer, colposcopy-guided biopsy faces challenges in improving accuracy and efficiency worldwide, especially in developing countries. To ease the heavy burden of cervical cancer screening, it is urgent to establish a scientific, accurate and efficient method for assisting diagnosis and biopsy. Methods The data were collected to establish three deep-learning-based models. For every case, one saline image, one acetic image, one iodine image and the corresponding clinical information, including age, the results of human papillomavirus testing and cytology, type of transformation zone, and pathologic diagnosis, were collected. The dataset was proportionally divided into three subsets including the training set, the test set and the validation set, at a ratio of 8:1:1. The validation set was used to evaluate model performance. After model establishment, an independent dataset of high-definition images was collected to further evaluate the model performance. In addition, the comparison of diagnostic accuracy between colposcopists and models weas performed. Results The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the classification model to differentiate negative cases from positive cases were 85.38%, 82.62% and 84.10% respectively, with an AUC of 0.93. The recall and DICE of the segmentation model to segment suspicious lesions in acetic images were 84.73% and 61.64%, with an average accuracy of 95.59%. Furthermore, 84.67% of high-grade lesions were detected by the acetic detection model. Compared to colposcopists, the diagnostic system performed better in ordinary colposcopy images but slightly unsatisfactory in high-definition images. Implications The deep learning-based diagnostic system could help assist colposcopy diagnosis and biopsy for HSILs.

Prognostic value of human papillomavirus 16/18 genotyping in low-grade cervical lesions preceded by mildly abnormal cytology.

Histological low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion/cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 (LSIL/CIN1) preceded by normal or mildly abnormal cytology is recommended for conservative follow-up, with no separated management. In this study, we assessed the triage value of human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 genotyping in 273 patients with LSIL/CIN1. HPV16/18 genotyping was performed at baseline and follow-up was at 6-monthly intervals for up to 2 years. At each follow-up, women positive for cytology or high-risk HPV (hrHPV) were referred for colposcopy. Enrollment cytology, HPV16/18 genotyping, and questionnaire-obtained factors were linked to the 2-year cumulative progression rate. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed taking into account time-to-event with Cox proportional hazard regression. The results showed that 190 cases (69.6%) regressed, 37 (13.6%) persisted, and 46 (16.8%) progressed. HPV16/18 positivity (hazard ratio (HR), 2.708; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.432-5.121; P=0.002) is significantly associated with higher 2-year cumulative progression rate. Sub-analysis by enrollment cytology and age restricted the positive association among patients preceded by mildly abnormal cytology and aged 30 years or older. Immediate treatment is a rational recommendation for the high-risk subgroup, when good compliance is not assured.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) E6/E7 mRNA detection in cervical exfoliated cells: a potential triage for HPV-positive women.

Cytology triage has been generally recommended for human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive women, but is highly dependent on well-trained cytologists. The present study was designed to explore whether HPV E6/E7 mRNA detection in cervical exfoliated cells can be a potential triage for HPV-positive women from a clinic-based population. Both the primary HPV testing and Papanicolaou (Pap) test were performed on all eligible HPV-positive women. HPV E6/E7 mRNA was detected by QuantiVirus® HPV E6/E7 mRNA assay in cervical exfoliated cells. All HPV-positive women underwent colposcopy and further biopsy if indicated. The data were assessed by Pearson's Chi-squared test and the receiver operating characteristic curve. A total of 404 eligible HPV-positive women were enrolled. Positive rate of E6/E7 mRNA in high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) cases was higher than that in low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) or normal cases. There was no statistical difference found between mRNA and cytological testing with sensitivity (89.52% vs. 86.67%, P=0.671), specificity (48.96% vs. 48.96%, P=1.000), positive predictive value (39.00% vs. 38.24%, P=1.000), and negative predictive value (92.76% vs. 90.97%, P=0.678) for detecting ≥HSIL. HPV E6/E7 mRNA detection in cervical exfoliated cells shows the same performance as Pap triage for HSIL identification for HPV-positive women. Detection of HPV E6/E7 mRNA may be used as a new triage option for HPV-positive women.