Combined detection of PAX1 methylation and p16/Ki-67 dual staining improves diagnostic performance for atypical squamous cells in cervical cancer

Abstract

Objective To compare paired boxed gene 1(PAX1) methylation and p16/Ki-67 double staining alone and in combination in thinprep cytologic test (TCT) for distinguishing atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) population. Methods A total of 247 patients with TCT results of ASC-US and LSIL admitted in our hospital from January 2021 to December 2022 were enrolled in this study.Detection efficacy of PAX1 methylation and p16/Ki-67 double staining alone and in combination was evaluated with colposcopic pathologic results as the gold standard and the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and area under the curve (AUC) as evaluation indexes. Results The positive rates of PAX1 methylation and p16/Ki-67 double staining were increased with the severity of pathological findings.Combined detection of PAX1 methylation and p16/Ki-67 assay had a sensitivity of 91.25%, specificity of 97.72% and accuracy of 95.51% in the women with TCT of ASC-US, and these values were statistically better than those of PAX1 methylation and p16/Ki-67 double staining alone (P < 0.01). Conclusion The combination of PAX1 methylation and p16/Ki-67 double-staining assay can further improve the diagnostic efficacy in patients with ASC-US on TCT results