Molecular Genetics of Cervical Precancerous Lesions: Implications to Prognostic Model Development

The genetic studies in cancer have provided important clues in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of tumor development. Genetic mutations accumulate in a sequential manner during tumor progression. Thus, the dissection of molecular genetic changes that occur at various stages of tumor progression and invasion are of considerable importance in early diagnosis and prognosis. Squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix uteri (Cervical Carcinoma (CC)) provide a prototype system for genetic studies of progression because of its characteristic preinvasive stages that can be recognized by cytomorphologic techniques. Although much is known about the etiology and treatment of CC, the genetic basis of multi-step pathway in cervical tumorigenesis and the role of genetic alterations in invasion remains unknown. Evidence thus far accumulated does not support the role of inherited predisposing factors in CC development. The following review focuses on the early genetic and epigenetic events in precancerous cervical lesions. Gopeshwar Narayan1* and Sunita Singh2 1Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, India 2Department of Zoology, Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Banaras Hindu University, India *Corresponding author: Gopeshwar Narayan, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, India. Tel: +91-542-670-2497; Email: [email protected]