| abstract |
The invention concerns some methods for diagnosing cancer of the uterine cervix (or extra-uterine) which integrate or surrogate the field of action of cytology with that of molecular biology, and provide a system for diagnosis, prognosis and management of HPV-induced cervical lesions (or extra-uterine) which exploit, in particular, the analytical methods of Western Blot and Sandwich ELISA in order to detect those cases where the transformation towards a neoplastic lesion has become irreversible. The methods consist in detecting, in samples of cells taken from the squamous-columnar junction of the uterine cervix of a patient under examination, the proteins encoded by viral oncogenes E6 and E7 and those encoded by the tumor suppressor genes of the host cell p53 and pRB, and in detecting by Western Blot and/or by Sandwich ELISA the possible interaction between proteins E6 and p53, and between proteins E7 and pRb, as an index of irreversible transformation towards a neoplastic lesion. |