New ways to improve cervical cancer screening

Press release from Association for International Research

RESEARCHERS in London have found a new way of screening for cervical cancer which could significantly cut the death rate from the devastating disease.

Cervical cancer accounts for about one in 10 female cancer deaths, worldwide, each year. It is the second most common female cancer worldwide. Screening can prevent around 75% of cases in women in developed countries.

Now however, vital work made possible by funding from the St Andrews-based Association for International Research (AICR), undertaken by Dr Daniel Ndisang from Institute of Child Health at University College London, and colleagues, has discovered a new screening method which could be much more effective.

The team found that a molecule called Brn-3a is present at high levels in both cervical cancer and pre-cancer lesions.  These include the rarer types which are usually difficult to diagnose using the current screening procedures and therefore have lower survival rates. Brn-3a is known to switch on the molecule E6 which is found in the human papillomavirus (HPV), the main risk factor and a cause of cervical cancer.

These findings suggest that, by measuring the levels of both the Brn-3a and E6 molecules, more women with the early stages of cervical cancer could be diagnosed and treated, and more lives could be saved.  Importantly, measuring these molecules would be cost-effective and could therefore help reduce the deaths from cervical cancer across the globe.

Dr Ndisang said: “ Across the world, half a million women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year, most of them in developing countries.  The best hope to save them is to have cheap and effective screening programmes.  We hope this new technique might be the way to develop such programmes.”

Dr Mark Matfield, Scientific Co-ordinator from AICR said: “This is a perfect example of why the type of basic cancer research we fund at AICR is so crucial. Dr Ndisang identified a molecule which is found at high levels in cervical cancer cells. Now, he has been able to show that it could be used in a new test which could diagnose cervical cancer at an early stage, when the chances of a complete cure are excellent.”

Ends.

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