{Reference Type}: Journal Article
{Title}: Combined Liquid Biopsy Methylation Analysis of CADM1 and MAL in Cervical Cancer Patients.
{Author}: Leffers M;Herbst J;Kropidlowski J;Prieske K;Bohnen AL;Peine S;Jaeger A;Oliveira-Ferrer L;Goy Y;Schmalfeldt B;Pantel K;Wölber L;Effenberger K;Wikman H;
{Journal}: Cancers (Basel)
{Volume}: 14
{Issue}: 16
{Year}: Aug 2022 16
{Factor}: 6.575
{DOI}: 10.3390/cancers14163954
{Abstract}: Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, which is associated in >95% with a high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Methylation of specific genes has been closely associated with the progress of cervical high-grade dysplastic lesions to invasive carcinomas. Therefore, DNA methylation has been proposed as a triage for women infected with high-risk HPV. Methylation analyses of cervical cancer tissue have shown that cell adhesion molecule 1 (CADM1) and myelin and lymphocyte protein (MAL) methylation are present in over 90% of all cervical high-grade neoplasias and invasive cervical cancers. Here, we established a liquid biopsy-based assay to detect MAL and CADM1 methylation in cell free (cf)DNA of cervical cancer. Methylation of the target gene was validated on bisulfite converted smear-DNA from cervical dysplasia patients and afterward applied to cfDNA using quantitative real-time PCR. In 52 smears, a combined analysis of CADM1 and/or MAL (CADM1/MAL) showed methylation in 86.5% of the cases. In cfDNA samples of 24 cervical cancer patients, CADM1/MAL methylation was detected in 83.3% of the cases. CADM1/MAL methylation was detected already in 81.8% of stage I-II patients showing the high sensitivity of this liquid biopsy assay. In combination with a specificity of 95.5% towards healthy donors (HD) and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.872 in the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, CADM1/MAL cfDNA methylation detection might represent a novel and promising liquid biopsy marker in cervical cancer.