New Strategies to Assess Anal Cancer Risk In Women

Investigators seek to study different strategies to identify women at highest risk for anal cancer. Primarily, investigators want to study a risk assessment called the Anal Cancer Risk Index; it gives women an overall number score based on risk factors that they may have for anal cancer, such as age, number of sexual partners, or smoking. The study team would like to determine whether women with higher Anal Cancer Risk Index scores are more likely to have abnormal results on anal pap smears, HPV tests, or anal biopsies. Next, the team will collect a swab of the cervix and swabs of the anus to study different laboratory tests that could identify women at highest risk of anal cancer: these tests include an anal pap smear and tests that detect HPV types most likely to cause cancer. Investigators would like to see which of these laboratory tests do the best job at predicting precancerous lesions in the anus. After collecting these swabs, women will have a procedure called high resolution anoscopy where investigators will look closely at the anus and biopsy any suspicious areas. Finally, the study team will look for HPV proteins and changes that HPV can make in cells to see if these tests predict anal lesions. The HPV protein is called E6 and E7 and the cell change test is called CADM1/MAL/miR-124-2. Investigators will measure E6/E7 and CADM1/MAL/miR-124-2 in cervical and anal samples to see if women positive for this marker are more likely to have abnormal results on anal pap smears or anal biopsies.