Investigators believe they have uncovered a biological reason for why some cervical cancer precursor lesions escape detection by Pap tests.
Aberrant expression of the adhesion molecule E-cadherin in superficial layers of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia correlates with false-negative Pap test results, Dr. Juan C. Felix of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and colleagues report.
“Although 60% of women with cervical cancer have not had a Pap test in the previous 3 years, 40% of women with invasive cervical cancer have had a recent Pap smear that was read as normal,” Dr. Felix told Reuters Health. He and his colleagues hypothesized that perhaps the abnormal cells in these particular women did not “shed” in a normal fashion when the Pap test is performed.
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