Research progress of DNA methylation in the screening of cervical cancer and precancerous lesions

Abstract

Cervical cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors that seriously threaten women's health. Persistent infection with high risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is closely related to the progression of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer screening is an effective measure to reduce the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer. The two most common screening strategies are cytology and HPV testing, but they easily lead to missed diagnosis or overdiagnosis. To overcome such limitations, a new triage method needs to be explored. The World Health Organization second edition guideline includes DNA methylation testing as a new method to be evaluated. DNA methylation is a common epigenetic modification and is considered to be closely related to the occurrence and development of tumors. In recent years, many methylated genes have been found to be biomarkers for cervical cancer and precancerous lesions diagnosis. In this paper, we focus on the role and application of host DNA methylation, HPV DNA methylation, as well as combined host and HPV DNA methylation in the screening of cervical cancer and precancerous lesions.