Investigation of p16 gene promoter methylation in people with cervical cancer and women with papilloma virus infection

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer and an important cause of death in women worldwide. Objective biomarkers are needed to improve specificity for cervical cancer screening. The p16 gene is implicated in the cell cycle control, playing an important role as a tumor suppressor gene. In this study, the methylation of the P16 gene promoter was evaluated in people with cervical cancer and people with the papilloma virus. The study population included nine women with cervical cancer whose malignancy had been confirmed by a pathologist and ten patients with high-risk types of HPV virus. Methylation status was evaluated by MS-PCR. Cervical cancer patients showed a significantly higher methylation frequency for the p16 gene as compared to the control and the HPV group (p=0.001).