engleski

Mass cytometry in gynecological oncology research

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) infect the basal epithelial cells of the skin and oral and anogenital mucosae. HPVs have been implicated in nearly 100% of cervical cancer cases worldwide. Based on this relationship with cervical cancer and precursor lesions, HPVs can be classified as high-risk and low-risk types. An important assumption is that cervical cancer is a preventable disease thanks to screening and vaccination programs. However, more than half a million women are still diagnosed with cervical cancer every year. Additionally, the disease takes more than a quarter of a million women’s lives annually. Such devastating results have been consequence of unequally available health care, especially in developing countries, and sometimes insufficient sensitivity of existing screening methods. Furthermore, currently employed biomarkers (HPV detection and p16/Ki67) despite improving sensitivity usually have low positive predictive value sometimes leading to overtreatment and socioeconomic risks, inefficiencies and burdens. Finding new biomarkers would enable earlier detection of precancerous lesions and possibly better predict their outcome - regression to normal or progression towards cancer. To fill the methodological gap, and hopefully find more specific biomarkers, a new approach has been applied using mass cytometry. Mass cytometry is a relatively new method that combines flow cytometry and mass spectrometry theoretically allowing the simultaneous assessment of up to 40 parameters from a single cell using metal-labelled antibodies. Herein the 30-antibody panel is being developed spanning cell development, differentiation, stemness and proliferation markers. The panel is applied to liquid-based cytology samples collected from patients with different grades of precursor lesions. Promising biomarkers, when translated into widely used methods (i.e., immunocytology), could be valuable for clinical practice and could be helpful in making treatment decisions. Cervical cancer is not a finished story for the foreseeable future ; it is a battle we have yet to win and keep winning until large scale vaccination can eventually eradicate this type of cancer.

HPV ; mass cytometry ; screening

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