Relative Telomere length in cervical exfoliated cells among women with high- risk human papillomavirus.

INTRODUCTION: This study investigates and compares the relative telomere length (RTL) outcome of high-risk (hr) human papillomavirus (HPV)-infected normal, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) cervical samples to HPV-free normal cervical samples. METHODS: This study used archived cervical samples and obtained cytology and histology data. HPV genotyping was conducted using Sanger sequencing and RTL was performed using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: This study investigated 287 cervical samples, including 100 normal and hr-HPV-negative samples from the control group, 44 normal and hr-HPV-infected samples, and 143 SIL and hr-HPV-infected samples. The RTL in hr-HPV-infected samples, including the SIL and normal sample groups, were significantly longer than that in the control group. RTL in HSIL (5.13 ± 3.22) and LSIL (2.86 ± 2.81) were significantly different (P < 0.001). The RTL of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN1) lesion (3.53 ± 2.53) differed significantly (P < 0.001) when compared to CIN2 and CIN3 lesions combined. The risk of developing cervical cancer was associated with RTL and was decreased with RTL. CONCLUSION: This study revealed the strong potential of the RTL test in identifying women at risk of developing cervical cancer.

Prediction of cervical cancer precursor lesions by quantitative methylation specific PCR: A retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of FAM19A4 and hsa-mir-124-2 hypermethylation as a triage tool for women who are at risk of developing cervical cancer or high-grade cervical cancer precursor lesions by taking into consideration the cytology report, histology diagnosis, and human papillomavirus (HPV) status. METHODS: A total of 330 cervical ThinPrep samples were retrospectively collected and used for DNA isolation. HPV DNA was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and HPV genotypes were identified by Sanger-based sequencing. DNA extracts were bisulphite-treated, and hypermethylation of FAM19A4 and hsa-mir-124-2 genes was detected by a quantitative methylation-specific PCR (qMSP) test using the QIAsure Methylation assay. RESULTS: Hypermethylated genes were detected in 27 (9.6%) cervical samples, mostly found in women diagnosed with high-grade squamous intraepithelial legions (77.8%) or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3) (72.7%). The sensitivity and the specificity of the qMSP test for predicting CIN3 lesions among women with high-risk HPV was 75% and 91%, respectively. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: There was a significant correlation between high-grade cervical cancer precursor lesions and detection of hypermethylated genes in samples positive for high-risk HPV. Our results suggest that the QIAsure Methylation test can be used as a triage tool to identify women at risk for cervical cancer progression.