Epigenetic signatures of virus-associated cervical cancer in women living with HIV

摘要: Background: Low- and middle-income countries are facing a high health burden of cervical cancer (CC). The situation is worsened by a high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We aim to identify epigenetic signatures to help understand the virus-associated pathways underlying CC development, which is fundamental to developing effective CC screening tools or therapeutic approaches for women living with HIV. Methods: We recruited a total of 365 Nigerian women with mean age of 52 (239 HIV+ and 126 HIV-; 98 without CC, 106 with cervical lesions, and 161 with CC). DNA methylation profiling in cervical tissue samples was performed using Illumina EPIC array covering over 860K methylation sites. The epigenetic signatures were identified among HIV+ women through epigenome-wide association study comparing CC vs. CC-free (Bonferroni adjusted p <0.05), which were further validated by …