Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Correspondence , Renske D. Steenbergen and Ramon P. Email: r. We evaluated the expression of IHC markers and compared it with DNA methylation, a marker for malignant transformation.
Within AIN2, a heterogeneous biomarker pattern was observed concerning E4, p16 and methylation status, reflecting the biological heterogeneity of these lesions. We earlier showed that high methylation levels are associated with progression to cancer. Our data show that IHC biomarkers can help to characterise AIN; however, their prognostic value for cancer risk stratification, next to objective methylation analysis, appears to be limited.
Understanding which HSILs progress to cancer could facilitate early detection and treatment of anal cancer. Thus, while IHC markers are useful for molecular characterisation of HSIL, their prognostic value, particularly compared to methylation analysis, is limited.
Hence, new biomarkers for cancer risk stratification of HSILs are needed to identify lesions for treatment and reduce current overtreatment. The immunohistochemical IHC marker p16 INK4a further referred to as p16 is an important characteristic for the transformation of lesions.
Its expression is the result of cell cycle deregulation induced by hrHPV E7 viral oncogene activity. In this study, we aimed to characterise anal lesions using both IHC markers and host cell DNA methylation markers to increase our insight into changes of biomarker patterns during anal carcinogenesis and to investigate their potential as a cancer risk stratification tool.
