The Swedish Cervical Screening Cohort.

The Cervical Screening Cohort enrols women screened for human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical abnormalities within the capital region of Sweden from the organised screening program and the non-organised testing of cervical samples. The cohort started in 2011 and has enrolled more than 670,000 women, contributing with more than 1.2 million biobanked samples. The cohort is systematically updated with individual-level data from the Swedish National Cervical Screening Registry (NKCx). Key variables include birthdate, sampling date, cytological, histopathological and HPV analysis results, and invitation history. Each sampling and subsequent clinical follow-up is sequentially registered, allowing for longitudinal analyses of screening results and associated results of the clinical workup. The cohort is ideal for longitudinal, long-term follow-up studies due to its validated documentation and registry-derived information. From the data, it is possible to penetrate important human health mechanisms. The data are available as open-data and GDPR-compliant. Samples are available after getting the required permissions. Results will help researchers understand factors that increase cancer risk and other diseases.

Concomitant human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and screening for elimination of HPV and cervical cancer.

HPV vaccination with concomitant HPV-based screening of young women has been proposed for faster cervical cancer elimination. We describe the baseline results of a population-based trial of this strategy to reduce the incidence of HPV. All 89,547 women born 1994-1999 and resident in the capital region of Sweden were personally invited to concomitant HPV vaccination and HPV screening with 26,125 women (29.2%) enrolled between 2021-05-03 and 2022-12-31. Baseline HPV genotyping of cervical samples from the study participants finds, compared to pre-vaccination prevalences, a strong decline of HPV16 and 18 in birth cohorts previously offered vaccination, some decline for cross-protected HPV types but no decline for HPV types not targeted by vaccines. Our dynamic transmission modelling predicts that the trial could reduce the incidence of high-risk HPV infections among the 1994-1998 cohorts by 62-64% in 3 years. Baseline results are prevalences of HPV infection, validated transmission model projections, and power estimates for evaluating HPV incidence reductions at follow-up (+/-0.1% with 99.9% confidence). In conclusion, concomitant HPV vaccination and HPV screening appears to be a realistic option for faster cervical cancer elimination. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04910802; EudraCT number: 2020-001169-34.

In vivo transcript profiling and phylogenetic analysis identifies suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 as a direct signal transducer and activator of transcription 5b target in liver.

The GH-activated signal transducer and activator of transcription 5b (STAT5b) is an essential regulator of somatic growth. The transcriptional response to STAT5b in liver is poorly understood. We have combined microarray-based expression profiling and phylogenetic analysis of gene regulatory regions to study the interplay between STAT5b and GH in the regulation of hepatic gene expression. The acute transcriptional response to GH in vivo after a single pulse of GH was studied in the liver of hypophysectomized rats in the presence of either constitutively active or a dominant-negative STAT5b delivered by adenoviral gene transfer. Genes showing differential expression in these two situations were analyzed for the presence of STAT5b binding sites in promoter and intronic regions that are phylogenetically conserved between rats and humans. Using this approach, we showed that most rapid transcriptional effects of GH in the liver are not results of direct actions of STAT5b. In addition, we identified novel STAT5b cis regulatory elements in genes such as Frizzled-4, epithelial membrane protein-1, and the suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2). Detailed analysis of SOCS2 promoter demonstrated its direct transcriptional regulation by STAT5b upon GH stimulation. A novel response element was identified within the first intron of the human SOCS2 gene composed of an E-box followed by tandem STAT5b binding sites, both of which are required for full GH responsiveness. In summary, we demonstrate the power of combining transcript profiling with phylogenetic sequence analysis to define novel regulatory paradigms.

Exploring hepatic hormone actions using a compilation of gene expression profiles.

BACKGROUND: Microarray analysis is attractive within the field of endocrine research because regulation of gene expression is a key mechanism whereby hormones exert their actions. Knowledge discovery and testing of hypothesis based on information-rich expression profiles promise to accelerate discovery of physiologically relevant hormonal mechanisms of action. However, most studies so-far concentrate on the analysis of actions of single hormones and few examples exist that attempt to use compilation of different hormone-regulated expression profiles to gain insight into how hormone act to regulate tissue physiology. This report illustrates how a meta-analysis of multiple transcript profiles obtained from a single tissue, the liver, can be used to evaluate relevant hypothesis and discover novel mechanisms of hormonal action. We have evaluated the differential effects of Growth Hormone (GH) and estrogen in the regulation of hepatic gender differentiated gene expression as well as the involvement of sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs) in the hepatic actions of GH and thyroid hormone. RESULTS: Little similarity exists between liver transcript profiles regulated by 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol and those induced by the continuos infusion of bGH. On the other hand, strong correlations were found between both profiles and the female enriched transcript profile. Therefore, estrogens have feminizing effects in male rat liver which are different from those induced by GH. The similarity between bGH and T3 were limited to a small group of genes, most of which are involved in lipogenesis. An in silico promoter analysis of genes rapidly regulated by thyroid hormone predicted the activation of SREBPs by short-term treatment in vivo. It was further demonstrated that proteolytic processing of SREBP1 in the endoplasmic reticulum might contribute to the rapid actions of T3 on these genes. CONCLUSION: This report illustrates how a meta-analysis of multiple transcript profiles can be used to link knowledge concerning endocrine physiology to hormonally induced changes in gene expression. We conclude that both GH and estrogen are important determinants of gender-related differences in hepatic gene expression. Rapid hepatic thyroid hormone effects affect genes involved in lipogenesis possibly through the induction of SREBP1 proteolytic processing.