Positive association was found between methylation levels for host genes and CIN2 and CIN3 lesions respectively [CADM1: OR 4.17 (95%CI 2.03-8.56) and OR 9.54 (95%CI 4.80-18.97); MAL: OR 5.98 (95%CI 2.26-15.78) and OR 22.66 (95%CI 9.21-55.76); DAPK1: OR 3.37 (95%CI 0.93-12.13) and OR 6.74 (95%CI 1.92-23.64)].
A series of cervical scrapes of women with cervical (n=79) or endometrial (n=21) cancer, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3) (n=16) or CIN2 (n=32), and women without evidence of CIN2 or worse (n=120) were assessed for methylation of CADM1, MAL and miR124-2.
Finally, we applied hrHPV GP5+/6+-PCR testing followed by CADM1-M18/MAL-M1 methylation analysis to a cohort of 79 women visiting the outpatient colposcopy clinic. hrHPV testing revealed a sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 33% for CIN3+.
Dense methylation (defined as >or= 2 methylated regions) increased from 5% in normal cervical samples to 30% in CIN3 lesions and 83% in squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) and was significantly associated with decreased CADM1 protein expression (p < 0.00005).