Epigenetic biomarker and drug development in gynecological cancers

Gynecological cancer is a grave threat to women’s health. The human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main risk of cervical cancer. The incidence and mortality of cervical cancer have gradually decreased since the clinical use of pap smears. However, the sensitivity of pap smears still varies with different screening equipment, which seriously affects the effectiveness of screening for cervical cancer. On the other hand, the etiology of endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer is not clear. Although the treatment response is good in the early stage, the late diagnosis results in poor treatment outcomes and high mortality. Therefore, developing biomarkers for early detection and effective screening methods of these three diseases is necessary and urgent. The DNA methylomic studies of these diseases can have the opportunity to discover genes related to diseases and serve as indicators of disease diagnosis and prognosis biomarkers.