Analysis of genetic copy number changes in cervical disease progression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cervical dysplasia and tumorigenesis have been linked with numerous chromosomal aberrations. The goal of this study was to evaluate 35 genomic regions associated with cervical disease and to select those which were found to have the highest frequency of aberration for use as probes in fluorescent in-situ hybridization.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The frequency of gains and losses using fluorescence in-situ hybridization were assessed in these 35 regions on 30 paraffin-embedded cervical biopsy specimens. Based on this assessment, 6 candidate fluorescently labeled probes (8q24, Xp22, 20q13, 3p14, 3q26, CEP15) were selected for additional testing on a set of 106 cervical biopsy specimens diagnosed as Normal, CIN1, CIN2, CIN3, and SCC. The data were analyzed on the basis of signal mean, % change of signal mean between histological categories, and % positivity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The study revealed that the chromosomal regions with the highest frequency of copy number gains and highest combined sensitivity and specificity in high-grade cervical disease were 8q24 and 3q26. The cytological application of these two probes was then evaluated on 118 ThinPrep™ samples diagnosed as Normal, ASCUS, LSIL, HSIL and Cancer to determine utility as a tool for less invasive screening. Using gains of either 8q24 or 3q26 as a positivity criterion yielded specificity (Normal +LSIL+ASCUS) of 81.0% and sensitivity (HSIL+Cancer) of 92.3% based on a threshold of 4 positive cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The application of a FISH assay comprised of chromosomal probes 8q24 and 3q26 to cervical cytology specimens confirms the positive correlation between increasing dysplasia and copy gains and shows promise as a marker in cervical disease progression.</p

Dysplastic cells in cytological cervical samples show a high incidence of chromosomal abnormalities

Chromosomal abnormalities are frequent in most cervical cancers. Amplifications of both the 3q26 (TERC) and 8q24 (MYC) loci have been shown to be prevalent in both high-grade lesions and invasive cervical carcinoma. Most of these studies have looked at either the histological sample or at the entire cytological population of cells. We have developed a Papanicolaou (Pap) destaining method that allows for the accurate analysis of individual cells that were previously identified by cytopathology as dysplastic. The application of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was then implemented to determine the chromosomal status of the dysplastic cells in the samples and correlate the two events. Chromosomal abnormality is over a thousand times more frequent in dysplastic cells compared with their morphologically normal counterparts