DNA Methylation in pap smears can Predict various reproductive organ cancers in women

Good news! Recommendable!

Caution/caveat: The author of this article (a woman) also uses the new irritating Orwellian speak of women are people!

"New findings published in Nature Communications last week ... suggest that a version of the Pap smear could be used to provide early warning of some other cancer types [other than cervical cancer] as well. In two studies, a group of researchers tested the ability of a new scoring system that the authors call WID-index, or women’s cancer risk identification index, based on the DNA methylation footprint in cervical samples, to predict the risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer.  ..."

From the abstract (first research article):

"The vast majority of epithelial ovarian cancer arises from tissues that are embryologically derived from the Müllerian Duct. Here, we demonstrate that a DNA methylation signature in easy-to-access Müllerian Duct-derived cervical cells from women with and without ovarian cancer (i.e. referred to as the Women’s risk IDentification for Ovarian Cancer index or WID-OC-index) is capable of identifying women with an ovarian cancer in the absence of tumour DNA with an AUC of 0.76 and women with an endometrial cancer with an AUC of 0.81. This and the observation that the cervical cell WID-OC-index mimics the epigenetic program of those cells at risk of becoming cancerous in BRCA1/2 germline mutation carriers (i.e. mammary epithelium, fallopian tube fimbriae, prostate) further suggest that the epigenetic misprogramming of cervical cells is an indicator for cancer predisposition. This concept has the potential to advance the field of risk-stratified cancer screening and prevention."

From the abstract (second research article):

"... Utilising cervical liquid-based cytology samples, we develop the DNA methylation-based Women’s risk IDentification for Breast Cancer index (WID-BC-index) that identifies women with breast cancer with an AUROC (Area Under the Receiver Operator Characteristic) of 0.84 (95% CI: 0.80–0.88) and 0.81 (95% CI: 0.76–0.86) in internal and external validation sets, respectively. CpGs at progesterone receptor binding sites hypomethylated in normal breast tissue of women with breast cancer or in BRCA mutation carriers are also hypomethylated in cervical samples of women with poor prognostic breast cancer. Our data indicate that a systemic epigenetic programming defect is highly prevalent in women who develop breast cancer. ..."

DNA Methylation Could Predict Ovarian, Breast Cancers | The Scientist Magazine® A pair of new studies finds that analyzing material from a Pap smear can reveal tumor risk in distant parts of the body, potentially allowing early interventions.

The DNA methylome of cervical cells can predict the presence of ovarian cancer (open access)

The WID-BC-index identifies women with primary poor prognostic breast cancer based on DNA methylation in cervical samples (open access)