New cheaper human papilloma virus mass screening strategy reduces cervical cancer incidence in Changsha city:A clinical trial

BACKGROUND Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of death in women worldwide,second only to breast cancer.Around 80%of women have been infected with human papillomavirus(HPV)in their lifetime.Early screening and treatment are effective means of preventing cervical cancer,but due to economic reasons,many parts of the world do not have free screening programs to protect women’s health.AIM To increase HPV cervical cancer screening in Changsha and reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.METHODS Cervical cancer screening included gynecological examination,vaginal secretion examination and HPV high-risk typing testing.Cervical cytology examination(ThinPrep cytology test)was performed for individuals who test positive for HPV types other than 16 and 18.Vaginal colposcopy examination was performed for HPV16 and 18 positive individuals,as well as for those who were positive for ThinPrep cytology test.If the results of vaginal colposcopy examination were abnormal,histopathological examination was performed.We conducted a cost-benefit analysis after 4 years.RESULTS From 2019 to 2022,523437 women aged 35-64 years in Changsha city were screened and 73313 were positive,with a 14%positive rate.The detection rate of precancerous lesions of cervical cancer was 0.6%and the detection rate of cervical cancer was 0.037%.Among 311212 patients who underwent two cancers examinations,the incidence rate was reduced by more than half in the second examination.The average screening cost per woman was 120 RMB.The average cost of detecting early cases was 10619 RMB,with an early detection cost coefficient of 0.083.CONCLUSION Our screening strategy was effective and cost-effective,making it valuable for early diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer.It is worth promoting in economically limited areas.

Correlation analysis of human papillomavirus E6/E7 mRNA detection with diagnosis,prognosis and recurrence risk in patients with cervical epithelioma

BACKGROUND Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN)is an important precursor of cervical cancer.Early detection and treatment can reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.AIM To investigate the detection rate of human papillomavirus(HPV)E6/E7 mRNA in cervical tissue of patients with different types of epithelial cell neoplasia(CIN)and its relationship with CIN progression and diagnosis.METHODS One hundred women with HPV infection detected by cervical exfoliation cytology between January 2022 and January 2023 were retrospectively selected.These patients were graded CIN based on colposcopy and cervical pathology.The positive expression rates of HPV E6/E7 mRNA and HPV[polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-reverse dot crossing]were compared among all groups.Patients with HPV E6/E7 mRNA expression in the grade 1 CIN group were followed up for 1 yr.The relationship between atypical squamous epithelium and high malignant epithelial neoplasia was investigated by univariate and multivariate analysis.RESULTS The diagnostic sensitivity,specificity,and sensitivity of PCR-reverse point hybrid ization technology for secondary CIN were 70.41%,70.66%,and 0.714,respectively.Sensitivity and specificity for secondary CIN were 752%and 7853%,respectively,the area under the curve value was 0.789.Logistic Multifactorial model analysis revealed that the HPV positive rates and the HPV E6/E7 mRNA positive rates were independent risk factors of CIN grade I(P<0.05).In CIN grade I patients with positive for HPV E6/E7 mRNA,in its orientation to grade CIN patients,in its orientation to grade CIN patients,at 69.2%,compared with patients negative for HPV E6/E7 mRNA(30.8%),significant difference(P<0.05).CONCLUSION HPV E6/E7 mRNA and HPV(PCR-reverse dot hybrid)positive expression have a close relationship with CINgrade disease progression and is an independent risk factor for high-grade CIN lesions.

Health promotion and education proposal among Chinese female college students:eliminating cervical cancer is no longer a dream

Cervical cancer is a serious threat to women’s health.Persistent high-risk human papillomavirus(HPV)infection is a necessary factor for cervical cancer development and has become a serious public health threat to women.At present,young women have become a high-risk group for potential HPV infection.HPV vaccination is an effective method to prevent HPV infection and related diseases and is a primary preventive measure for HPV infection-related diseases.This study explores the influencing factors of female college students’willingness to receive HPV vaccination,their ability to understand college students’HPV awareness,their motivation for HPV vaccination,their behavioral skills related to HPV vaccination,their willingness to receive HPV vaccination and their vaccination rate.The aim of this study was to increase the HPV vaccination rate of Chinese female college students through health education programs and thus reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.

Distribution of high-risk human papillomavirus genotype prevalence and attribution to cervical precancerous lesions in rural North China

Objective: Precise prevention is more desired for cervical cancer due to the huge population, high prevalence of human papillomavirus(HPV) infection in China and the vision of screen-and-treat strategies in low-and middleincome countries(LMICs). Considerations of combining type-specific prevalence and attribution proportion to high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia are informative to more precise and effective region-specific cervical cancer prevention and control programs. The aim of the current study was to determine the genotype distribution of HPV and attribution to cervical precancerous lesions among women from rural areas in North China.Methods: A total of 9,526 women participated in the cervical cancer screening project in rural China. The samples of women who tested positive for HPV were retested with a polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-based HPV genotyping test. The attribution proportion of specific high-risk human papillomavirus(HR-HPV) types for different grades of cervical lesions was calculated by using the type contribution weighting method.Results: A total of 22.2%(2,112/9,526) of women were HR-HPV positive and HPV52(21.7%) was the most common HR-HPV genotype, followed by HPV58(18.2%), HPV53(18.2%) and HPV16(16.2%). The top three genotypes detected in HR-HPV-positive cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN)1 were HPV16(36.7%), HPV58(20.4%), HPV56(15.3%). Among CIN2+, the most frequent genotypes were HPV16(75.6%), HPV52(17.8%),HPV58(16.7%). HPV16, 56, 58, 53, 52, 59, 68, and 18 combined were attributed to 84.17% of all CIN1 lesions,and HPV16, 58, and 52 combined were attributed to 86.98% of all CIN2+ lesions.Conclusions: The prevalence of HR-HPV infection among women from rural areas in North China was high and HPV16, HPV58, HPV52 had paramount attributable fraction in CIN2+. Type-specific HPV prevalence and attribution proportion to cervical precancerous lesions should be taken into consideration in the development of vaccines and strategy for screening in this population.

Risk assessment and triage strategy of cervical cancer primary screening on HPV integration status:5-year follow-up of a prospective cohort study

Objective:We investigated the relation between man papillomavirus(HPV)integration status and the immediate risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN),as well as the triage strategy based on HPV integration test.Methods:4086 women aged 20 to 65 years in China were enrolled in 2015 for a prospective,population-based,clinical observational study to evaluate the triage performance of HPV integration.Cervical exfoliated cells were collected for HPV testing and cytologic test.If high-risk HPV was positive,HPV integration test was performed at baseline,2-year and 5-year follow-up.Results:At baseline,HPV integration was positively correlated with the severity of cervical pathology,ranging from 5.0%(15/301)in normal diagnosis,6.9%(4/58)in CIN1,31.0%(9/29)in CIN2,70%(14/20)in CIN3,and 100%(2/2)in cervical cancer(P<0.001).Compared with cytology,HPV integration exhibits comparable sensitivity and negative predictive value for the diagnosis of CIN3+,higher specificity(92.8%[90.2%-95.4%]vs.75.5%[71.2%-79.8%],P<0.001)and higher positive predictive value(36.4%[22.1%-50.6%]vs.15.2%[8.5%-21.8%],P<0.001).HPV integration testing strategy yielded a significantly lower colposcopy referral rate than cytology strategy(10.7%[44/410]vs.27.3%[112/410],P<0.001).The HPV integration-negative group exhibited the lowest immediate risk for CIN3+(1.6%)and accounted for the largest proportion of the total population(89.3%),when compared with the normal cytology group(risk,1.7%;proportion,72.7%).Conclusion:As a key molecular basis for the development of cervical cancer,HPV integration might be a promising triage strategy for HPV-positive patients.

Expression and Significance of SHP-2 in Human Papillomavirus Infected Cervical Cancer

This study investigated the expression and prognostic value of SHP-2 in cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Forty-five specimens from patients with cervical cancer (stageⅠ-Ⅲ), 32 specimens from patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) (Ⅰ, Ⅱ) and 20 normal cervical samples from patients with hysteromyoma were collected in Department of Pathology for comparison. The expression levels of SHP-2 and IFN-β proteins were detected by using immunohistochemistry. The mRNA expression level of SHP-2 was detected by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). HPVs were detected by HPV GenoArray Test. The Spearman correlation was used to compare the expression level of SHP-2 in HPV infected cervical cancer vs non-HPV infected normal cervix. The level of SHP-2 protein expression in the cancer tissues (88.8%) was significantly higher than in CIN tissues (62.5%) and normal cervixes (45%) (P<0.05 and P<0.05, respectively). The SHP-2 mRNA levels in the cancer tissues were upregulated as compared with those in the normal cervixes (P<0.05). Twenty-one (46.7%) cervical cancers, 25 (78.1%) CINs and 17 (85%) normal cervixes showed IFN-β positive staining in cytoplasm. There was statistically significant difference in the expression rate of IFN-β between cervical cancer and normal cervix (χ2=8.378, P<0.05) as well as between cervical cancer and CIN (χ2=7.695, P<0.05). HPV16/18 infections could be found in normal cervixs (15%), CINs (68.7%) and cervical cancers (84.4%). There was a correlation between HPV infection and SHP-2 expression in cervical cancer (rs=0.653, P<0.05). SHP-2 may be a useful prognostic and diagnostic indicator for HPV infected cervical cancer. In cervical cancers, SHP-2 mRNA and protein overexpression was associated with IFN-β lower-expression.

Human Papillomavirus 16E6 Oncogene Mutation in Cervical Cancer

Objective： Cervical cancer （CC） is the second most common type of cancer in women worldwide, after breast cancer. High-risk human papillomaviruses （HR-HPVs） are considered to be the major causes of cervical cancer. HPV16 is the most common type of HR-HPVs and HPV16 E6 gene is one of the major oncogenes. Specific mutations are considered as dangerous factors causing CC. This study was designed to find mutations of HPV16 E6 and the relationship between the mutations and the happening of CC. Methods： The tissue DNA was extracted from 15 biopsies of CC. Part of HPV16 E6 gene （nucleotide 201-523） was amplified by polymerase chain reaction （PCR） from the CC tissue DNA. The PCR fragments were sequenced and analyzed. Results： The result of PCR showed that the positive rate of HPV16 E6 was 93.33% （14/13）. After sequencing ana analyzing, in the 13 out of 14 PCR fragments, 4 maintained prototype （30.77%）, 8 had a same 350G mutation （61.54%）, and 1 had a 249G mutation （7.69%）. Conclusion： This study suggest that there is a high infection rate of HPV in cervical cancer and most of the HPV16 E6 gene has mutations. Those mutations may have an association with the development of cervical cancer.

Suppression of human papillomavirus type 16 E5 oncoprotein:A promising step in fostering the treatment of cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is a growing global disease in developing countries.Persistent infection with human papillomaviruses(HPV)is an essential causative agent in this type of cancer.Several studies demonstrate HPV E5 oncoprotein can impress the normal life cycle of HPV-infected cells by targeting some pivotal cellular signaling pathways,such as the epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)signaling pathway.In this study,we used E5-siRNA to knockdown that essential oncogene and considered the effect of E5 silencing on proliferation,apoptosis,cell cycle,apoptosis-related gene expression,and the initiator of the EGFR signaling pathway in cervical cancer cells.The results demonstrate that E5 plays an essential role in the proliferation and inhibited apoptosis in cervical cancer.Furthermore,silencing E5 reduces proliferation,increases apoptosis,and elevates related-genes expression of these malignant cells.Overall,E5 suppression may be appropriate for ameliorating cervical cancer progression.

Evaluation of Awareness of Human Papillomavirus and Cervical Cancer among Female Undergraduates of a Private Mission University in Southwestern Nigeria

Background: Human papillomavirus infection is most prevalent in the younger population and causes cervical cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In 2018, cervical cancer was estimated to be 570,000 cases and 311,000 deaths;it ranked as the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women. Cervical cancer can be prevented through health education and vaccination against HPV. This study aimed at evaluating the level of awareness of human papillomavirus and cervical cancer among female undergraduate students of Babcock University, Ogun state of Nigeria. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study conducted among 310 female undergraduates of Babcock University in Nigeria from January to April 2019. The selection technique was a multistage random sampling method. The data collection was done using structured and self-administered questionnaires. Data collected were analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) statistics for windows version 25 and were presented in summary charts and frequency tables. P-values less than or equal to 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Of 310 female students, 296 (95.5%) were aware of HPV infections. The majority, 215 (69.4%) of the students knew that HPV is sexually transmitted. There was poor knowledge of the risk factors of HPV infection. Only, 65 (21.0%) were aware that HPV infection causes cervical cancer. A few proportions of students 79 (25.4%) were aware of the HPV vaccine. Consequently, only 44 (14.2%) have received HPV vaccination and some complained about the cost as a significant reason for not being vaccinated against HPV infection. Conclusion: The level of awareness of HPV infection, cervical cancer, and HPV vaccine uptake was very low in this study. There is a need to improve health education and awareness campaigns among students about HPV infection, cervical cancer, and HPV vaccine uptake.

Smoking and genital human papilloma virus infection in women attending cervical cancer screening in Greece

AIM: To investigate whether smoking is associated with human papilloma virus(HPV) infection. METHODS: HPV infection is considered to be a neces-sary condition for cervical cancer development. The study population included 1291 women, aged 25-55 years, attending cervical cancer screening. All women had a Papanicolaou(Pap) test, with liquid-based cytology(Thinprep), an HPV-DNA test and an evaluation of smoking habits. The COBAS 4800 system was used for HPV-DNA testing, enabling identifi cation of the following high-risk HPV(hr HPV)-types: each of HPVs 16 and 18 separately, and HPVs 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 66 and 68 as a cocktail. The evaluation of smoking habits was assessed using the smoking intensity index(SII), a variable formed as the product of cigarettes consumed per day by the days(years × 365) that a woman was a smoker, divided by 1000. RESULTS: There were 136 smokers among 238 women tested positive for hr HPV-types(HPVs 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 66 and/or 68), and 463 smokers among 1053 hr HPV-negative women(OR = 1.7, P < 0.001). This association was attributed to the youngest age group of women, aged 25-34 years(OR = 2.3, P < 0.001), while there was no association in other age groups. The intensity of smoking(increasing SII) showed no statistically signifi cant association with hr HPV infection. Cervical infection with HPV 16 and/or HPV 18 was also not associated with age or smoking habits. Finally, no association was found between Pap test status and smoking habits or smoking intensity. CONCLUSION: Smoking appears to be associated with hr HPV infection of the uterine cervix, particularly in younger women. Further studies should investigate whether this association is based on causality and evaluate the role of other possible co-factors.

Acceptability of self-collected human papillomavirus specimens in cervical cancer screening: A review

Cervical cancer morbidity and mortality is an important public health problem around the world. Some of the barriers to cervical cancer screening include the embar-rassment, discomfort, lack of privacy and time and cost associated with clinician-collected, clinic-based screen-ing with cytology or human papillomavirus tests. Self-collection of a human papillomavirus （HPV） test has been found to be generally more acceptable, less em-barrassing, more comfortable, more private and easy to do and preferred to pelvic examination for cervical cy-tology by many women worldwide. The most common-ly reported limitation to self-collection is a woman’s lack of confdence in her ability to perform it correctly. Self-collected human papillomavirus tests have been shown to be as or more sensitive than cytology or clinician-collected HPV tests. With confidence-building educa-tion about self-collection, it is likely a viable method to extend the reach of screening in high and low-resource areas around the world.

Human Papillomavirus—The Cause of Human Cervical Cancer

Objective: Cervical cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in females worldwide. Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is regarded as the main risk factor of cervical cancer. One objective of this study was to conduct a qualitative systematic review of some case-control studies and to examine the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the development of human cervical cancer (CC) beyond any reasonable doubt. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and re-analysis of some impressive key studies aimed to answer the following question. Is there a cause-effect relationship between human papillomavirus and cervical cancer? The method of the conditio sine qua non relationship was used to proof the hypothesis whether the presence of human papillomavirus guarantees the presence of cervical carcinoma. In other words, if human cervical cancer is present, then human papillomavirus is present too. The mathematical formula of the causal relationship k was used to proof the hypothesis, whether there is a cause-effect relationship between human papillomavirus and cervical carcinoma. Significance was indicated by a p-value of less than 0.05. Result: The studies analyzed (sample size N = 7657) were able to provide strict evidence that human papillomavirus is a necessary condition (a conditio sine qua non) of cervical carcinoma. Furthermore, the studies analyzed provide impressive evidence of a cause-effect relationship (k = +0.723669245, p value < 0.00001) between human papillomavirus and cervical carcinoma. Conclusion: Human papillomavirus is the cause of human cervical carcinoma.

Expression and clinical significance of high risk human papillomavirus and invasive gene in cervical carcinoma

Objective:To study the expression of E6 and E7 mRNA in high-risk human papillomavirus(HPV) HPV-18 and the relationship between the expression of invasive gene and cervical carcinoma.Methods:A total of 119 patients with cervical cancer,cervical erosion and cervical HPV infection who were diagnosed in our hospital were selected and randomly divided into two groups:cervical cancer group(n= 58) and non-cancerous group(n= 61).Another 60 patients with uterine leiomyoma were selected as normal control group.Detection of HPV18 E6,E7 mRNA expression and invasion,migration,proliferation inhibition genes,epithelial mesenchymal transition genes and proliferation related protein content.Results:The relative expression of E6 and E7 HPV-18 in cervical cancer group was significant higher than that in non-cancerous group and control group(mRNA)(P<0.05).The content of TRAF6 and c-FLIP in invasive cervical cancer group was significantly higher than that in non-cancerous group and control group(P<0.05).The mR NA content of CD44v6 and MMP-9 in cervical cancer group was significantly higher than that in non-cancerous group and control group(P<0.05).The content of DEC-1,IKK16,MBP-1 in cervical cancer group was significant lower than that in non-cancerous group and control group(P<0.05).The mR NA content of beta-catenin and Vimentin in cervical cancer group was significantly lower than that in non cancerous group and control group(P<0.05).The proliferation related protein E2F1 of cervical cancer group was significantly lower than that of non-cancerous group and control group,Bmi-1 content was significantly higher than non-cancerous group and control group(P<0.05).Conclusions:The expression of the detection of cervical cancer in high-risk human papilloma virus HPV-18 E6 and E7 mRNA,and the invasion,migration,proliferation inhibition gene,epithelial mesenchymal transition and proliferation related gene protein content,HPV expression rate of mR NA increased with the development of cervical cancer,the expression is also enhanced.The expression has a certain correlation between the level and development of cervical cancer.Through the above indicators,the development of cervical cancer monitoring and treatment to provide important clinical guidance.

Update on prevention and screening of cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is the third most common cause of cancer in women in the world. During the past few decades tremendous strides have been made toward decreasing the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer with the implementation of various prevention and screening strategies. The causative agent linked to cervical development and its precursors is the human papillomavirus(HPV). Prevention and screening measures for cervical cancer are paramount because the ability to identify and treat the illness at its premature stage often disrupts the process of neoplasia. Cervical carcinogenesis can be the result of infections from multiple high-risk HPV types that act synergistically. This imposes a level of complexity to identifying and vaccinating against the actual causative agent. Additionally, most HPV infections spontaneously clear. Therefore, screening strategies should optimally weigh the benefits and risks of screening to avoid the discovery and needless treatment of transient HPV infections. This article provides an update of the preventative and screening methodsfor cervical cancer, mainly HPV vaccination, screening with Pap smear cytology, and HPV testing. It also provides a discussion of the newest United States 2012 guidelines for cervical cancer screening, which changed the age to begin and end screening and lengthened the screening intervals.

Cervical cancer screening in developing countries at a crossroad:Emerging technologies and policy choices

Cervical cancer(CC) represents the fourth most common malignancy affecting women all over the world and is the second most common in developing areas. In these areas,the burden from disease remains important because of the difficulty in implementing cytology-based screening programmes. The main obstacles inherent to these countries are poverty and a lack of healthcare infrastructures and trained practitioners. With the availability of new technologies,researchers have attempted to find new strategies that are adapted to low- and middle-income countries(LMIC) to promote early diagnosis of cervical pathology. Current evidence suggests that human papillomavirus(HPV) testing is more effective than cytology for CC screening. Therefore,highly sensitive tests have now been developed for primary screening. Rapid molecular methods for detecting HPV DNA have only recently been commercially available. This constitutes a milestone in CC screening in low-resource settings because it may help overcome the great majority of obstacles inherent to previous screening programmes. Despite several advantages,HPV-based screening has a low positive predictive value for CC,so that HPVpositive women need to be triaged with further testing to determine optimal management. Visual inspection tests,cytology and novel biomarkers are some options. In this review,we provide an overview of current and emerging screening approaches for CC. In particular,we discuss the challenge of implementing an efficient cervical screening adapted to LMIC and the opportunity to introduce primary HPV-based screening with the availability of point-of-care(POC) HPV testing. The most adapted screening strategy to LMIC is still a work in progress,but we have reasons to believe that POC HPV testing makes part of the future strategies in association with a triage test that still needs to be defined.

Cervical cancer screening:A never-ending developing program

With the term "oncological screening", we define the overall performances made to detect early onset of tumors. These tests are conducted on a population that does not have any signs or symptoms related to a neoplasm. The whole population above a certain age, only one sex, only subjects with a high risk of developing cancer due to genetic, professional, discretionary reasons may be involved. Screening campaigns should be associated, when risk factors that can be avoided are known, with campaigns for the prevention of cancer by means of suitable behavior. The goal of cancer screening cannot however be limited to the diagnosis of a greater number of neoplasms. Screening will be useful only if it leads to a reduction in overall mortality or at least in mortality related to the tumor. Screening should then allow the diagnosis of the disease at a stage when there is a possibility of healing, possibility that is instead difficult when the disease is diagnosed at the appearance of signs or symptoms. This is the reason why not all campaigns of cancer screening have the same effectiveness. In Italy, every year there are about 150000 deaths due to cancer. Some of these tumors can be cured with a very high percentage of success if diagnosed in time. Cervical cancer can be diagnosed with non-invasive tests. The screening test used all over the world is Papanicolaou(Pap) test. This test may be carried out over the entire healthy population potentially exposed to the risk of contracting cancer. Public health has begun the screening campaigns in the hope of saving many of the approximately 270000 new cases of cancer reported each year. Screening is done following protocols that guarantee quality at the national level: these protocols are subject to change over time to reflect new realities or to correct any errors in the system. A simplified sketch of a possible route of cancer screening is as follows:(1) after selecting the target population, for example all women between 25 and 64 years(in the case of monitoring of cervical cancer), an invitation letter with the date and time of the appointment, planned according to the acceptance capacity of the hospital, is sent to all individuals;(2) an examination, which depending on the individual and the type of cancer to be monitored, for example, canbe a Pap smear, is performed and the patient can go home;(3) once available the results of examinations, if negative, they shall be communicated to the person concerned that will be notified by mail and will be recalled for a second test at a few years of distance, in the case of non-negativity, instead, the patient is contacted by telephone and informed of the need to carry out further examinations: it is said that the patient is in the "phase two" of the screening pathway;(4) in phase two, reached by only a small portion of the interested parties(usually less than 3%-5%), more indepth tests are carried out, which, depending on the individual and the type of cancer, can be: cytological and colposcopic examinations, the removal of a fragment of tissue(biopsy) and subsequent histological examination, additional tests such as ultrasound, radiography, or others such as computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, etc., in case of negativity, the concerned person will be called for new control tests at a a few years of distance, in case of non-negativity, it will be proposed instead an oncologic therapeutic plan and/or surgery to treat the diagnosed tumor; and(5) once the treatment plan is completed, the individual enters the follow-up protocol, which is monitored over time to see if the tumor has been completely removed or if instead it is still developing. Cervical cancer is undoubtedly the most successful example of a cancer screening campaign. Paradoxically, its effectiveness is one of the strongest reasons to criticize the usefulness of vaccination against human papillomavirus(HPV) in countries where the screening service with Pap test is organized in an efficient manner. Cervical cancer screening protocols are directed to sexually active women aged 25-64 years: they provide the Pap test performed by examining under a microscope or by staining with a specific "thin prep" the material taken from the cervix with a small spatula and a brush. It is recommended to repeat the test every two or three years. It is important to emphasize that women vaccinated against HPV MUST continue the screening with Pap test. Although some screening programs(e.g., Pap smears) have had remarkable success in reducing mortality from a specific cancer, any kind of screening is free from inherent limitations. The screening methods are in fact applied to large parts of the apparently healthy population. In particular, the limits for certain cancers may be as obvious as to prohibit the introduction of an organized screening program. Potential limitations of organized screenings are basically of two types: organizational and medical. The limits of organizational type relate to the ability of a program to recruit the whole target population. Although well organized, a screening program will hardly be able to exceed a coverage of 70%-80% of the target population, and in fact the results of the current programs are often much smaller. The limits of medical type are represented by the possibility of reducing the overall mortality, or specific mortality, using a specific screening campaign.

Cervical cancer: Can it be prevented?

Cervical cancer prevention requires a multipronged approach involving primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. The key element under primary prevention is human papilloma virus(HPV) vaccination. So far, only prophylactic HPV vaccines which prevent HPV infection by one or more subtypes are commercially available. Therapeutic HPV vaccines which aid in clearing established infection are still under trial. Secondary prevention entails early detection of precancerous lesions and its success is determined by the population coverage and the efficacy of the screening technique. A number of techniques are in use, including cytology, visual inspection(using the naked eye, magnivisualizer, acetic acid and Lugol's iodine), HPV testing and a combination of these methods. Updated screening guidelines have been advocated by the American Cancer Society in light of the role of HPV on cervical carcinogenesis. Recent research has also focussed on novel biomarkers that can predict progression to cancer in screen positive women and help to differentiate those who need treatment from those who can be left for follow-up. Last but not the least, effective treatment of precancerous lesions can help to reduce the incidence of invasive cervical cancer and this constitutes tertiary prevention.A combination of these approaches can help to prevent the burden of cervical cancer and its antecedent morbidity and mortality, but all of these are not feasible in all settings due to resource and allocation constraints. Thus, all countries, especially low and middle income ones, have to determine their own cocktail of approaches that work before we can say with certainty that yes, cervical cancer can be prevented.

Correlation between Physical Status of Human Papilloma Virus and Cervical Carcinogenesis

The prevalence of human papilloma virus (HPV)-16 in patients with cervical cancer,the physical status of HPV-16 in patients with cervical lesions,and the role of HPV-16 integration in cervi-cal carcinogenesis were investigated.HPV genotyping was performed by using PCR approach with the primer GP5+/GP6+ and type-specific primer on biopsy specimens taken operatively from 198 women.Multiple PCR was done to detect physical status of HPV-16 in a series of cervical liquid-based cytology samples and biopsy specimens obtained from different cervical lesions with HPV-16 infection,includ-ing 112 specimens with cervical cancer,151 specimens with CINⅠ,246 specimens with CINⅡ and 120 specimens with CINⅢ.The results showed that there were 112 cervical cancer samples (56.57% of total cervical cancer patients) with HPV-16 infection.The frequency of HPV-16 pure integration was 65.18% (73/112),56.57% (47/120),23.58% (58/246) and 7.95% (12/151) in cervical cancer,CINⅢ,CINⅡand CINⅠ patients respectively.In situ hybridization was performed on some paraffin-embedded sections of CINⅡ,CINⅢ and cervical cancer to verify the physical status of HPV-16 infection.Sig-nificant difference was observed between cervical cancer and CINⅠ,CINⅡ,CINⅢ in the frequency of HPV-16 integration (P<0.01).It is suggested that HPV-16 is the most prevalent type and is associated with cervical cancer.In the case of HPV-16 infection there are close associations between the severity of cervical lesions and the frequency of HPV-16 integration.The application of testing HPV genotyping and physical status based on detection of HC-Ⅱ HPV DNA would be in favor of predicting the progno-sis of cervical precancerosis and enhancing the screening accuracy of cervical cancer.

HPV16 E5 Peptide Vaccine in Treatment of Cervical Cancer In Vitro and In Vivo

Human papillomavirus （HPV）-induced cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide. Despite the encouraging development of the preventive vaccine for HPV, a vaccine for both prevention and therapy or pre-cancerous lesions remains in high priority. Thus far, most of the HPV therapeutic vaccines are focused on HPV E6 and E7 oncogene. However these vaccines could not completely eradicate the lesions. Recently, HPV E5, which is considered as an oncogene, is getting more and more attention. In this study, we predicted the epitopes of HPV16 E5 by bioinformat- ics as candidate peptide, then, evaluated the efficacy and chose an effective one to do the further test. To evaluate the effect of vaccine, rTC-1 （TC-1 cells infected by rAAV-HPV16E5） served as cell tumor model and rTC-1 loading mice as an ectopic tumor model. We prepared vaccine by muscle injection. The vaccine effects were determined by evaluating the function of tumor-specific T cells by cell prolif- eration assay and ELISPOT, calculating the tumor volume in mice and estimating the survival time of mice. Our in vitro and in vivo studies revealed that injection of E5 peptide＋CpG resulted in strong cell-mediated immunity （CMI） and protected mice from tumor growth, meanwhile, prolonged the sur- vival time after tumor cell loading. This study provides new insights into HPV16 E5 as a possible target on the therapeutic strategies about cervical cancer.

Retinoic acid receptor beta promoter methylation and risk of cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death in women worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Human papillomavirus has been reported as one of the key etiologic factors in cervical carcinoma. Likewise, epigenetic aberrations have ability to regulate cancer pathogenesis and progression. Recent research suggested that methylation has been detected already at precancerous stages, which methylation markers may have significant value in cervical cancer screening. The retinoic acid receptor beta (RARβ) gene, a potential tumor suppressor gene, is usually expressed in normal epithelial tissue. Methylation of CpG islands in the promoter region of the RARβ gene has been found to be associated with the development of cervical cancer. To investigate whether RARβ methylation is a potential biomarker that predicts the progression of invasive cancer, we reviewed 14 previously published articles related to RARβ methylation. The majority of them demonstrated that the frequency of RARβ promoter methylation was significantly correlated with the severity of cervical epithelium abnormalities. However, methylation of a single gene may not represent the best approach for predicting disease prognosis. Analyzing combinations of aberrant methylation of multiple genes may increase the sensitivity, and thus this approach may serve as a better tool for predicting disease prognosis.