| 1. |
- Berggrund, Malin, 1989-
(författare)
-
Identification and clinical implementation of biomarkers for cervical cancer
- 2020
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Introduction of organised screening programs and prophylactic vaccination against human papilloma virus (HPV) have successfully reduced the incidence of cervical cancer globally. In Sweden, the incidence has been reduced by about 50 % since the introduction of the national screening programme in the late 1960’s. Despite these efforts, cervical cancer is still a major cause of cancer deaths globally.In order to reduce cervical cancer, the screening program should have a high participation rate and be based on a sensitive and specific screening test. About 20 % of women in Sweden do not participate in the organised screening program, and during the last years we have also seen a rise in cervical cancer cases in Sweden among women who participate in the screening program. Thus, there is a need to develop improved screening strategies that result in a higher participation rate, and are based on tests that more precisely identify women with high risk of developing cervical cancer. This includes searching for novel biological markers (biomarkers) that can be used to more accurately identify women with a high risk of developing cervical cancer.By offering women self-sampling for HPV analysis through direct mailing of sample kits with a chemically treated paper card, the FTA card, we were able to increase the participation rate in the screening program. We also found that the use of repeated self-sampling for women that were HPV positive in the primary screening sample increased the number of women detected with higher risk of cervical cancer (Paper II). Self-sampling was shown to be non-inferior to assisted sampling by midwife (Paper III). Using this sample collection device, we further investigated the association between increased risk of cervical cancer and HPV viral load (Paper V) as well as the vaginal microbiota (Paper VI). We also showed that proteins in the vaginal fluid can be studied using self-sampling and the FTA card (Paper I). Lastly, we identified plasma proteins that are associated with cervical cancer and could represent future biomarkers (Paper IV).This thesis has provided novel aspects on the present screening strategy, explored opportunities to increase the participation rate as well as examined possible future biomarkers for screening of cervical cancer.
|
|
| 2. |
- Samir, Raghad, 1968-
(författare)
-
Tissue tumor marker expression in normal cervical tissue and in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, for women who are at high risk of human papilloma virus infection, are smokers, contraceptive users or in fertile age
- 2015
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this research was to study the correlation between tissue tumor marker expression and HR-HPV infection, smoking, hormonal contraceptive use and sex steroids in women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or normal epithelium. The study investigated the expression of 11 tumor markers in cervical biopsies obtained from 228 women with different diagnoses ranging from normal cervical epithelium to various stages of CIN. 188 women were recruited at our colposcopy clinic (out-patient surgery, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Falun Hospital) for laser cervical conization or a directed punch biopsy, either because of a vaginal smear (Pap smear) that showed cytological findings suggesting CIN, or because of repeated findings showing atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS). For 40 volunteers, punch biopsies were taken from the normal cervical epithelium. The time period for this study was 2005-2007.Study I : 228 women, of whom 116 were tested, 64 were positive to HR-HPV. The results showed that Ki67 tumor cell proliferation index was the only marker that independently correlated to both the presence of HR-HPV and the severity of cervical lesions.Study II: 228 women, of whom 83 were smokers (36, 9%). Smokers showed lower expression of p53, FHIT (tumor suppressor markers) and interleukin-10 .Higher expression of Cox-2 and Ki-67 (tumor proliferation markers).Study III: 195 women who were premenopausal. There was increased p53 expression (tumor suppressor) in the progestin-IUD users compared to non-users. Decreased IL-10 expression (immunological marker) was observed in both COC users and any progestin-only users.Study IV: Serum from 80 premenopausal women was available. The main finding was that the increased levels of serum progesterone and estradiol were associated with increased Cox-2 expression (proliferation marker). Serum progesterone and estradiol levels influence cellular and extracellular proteins which have been associated with neoplastic development in normal epithelium and CIN.Conclusion: The results of these studies support previous epidemiological findings on the role of smoking, contraceptive use and sex steroids as co-factors in development of CIN and that tumor marker expression varies in different grades of CIN.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
