The ASCCP is inviting submission of abstracts for presentation at the 2008 Biennial meeting and complete manuscripts to be published in the Journal for Lower Genital Tract Disease throughout the coming year. Submissions will be accepted on-line using the form and instructions as posted at www.asccp.org/biennial/abstract.shtml.

Abstracts are juried by the ASCCP Program Committee under the direction of Warner K. Huh, MD, Charles J. Dunton, MD and Teresa M. Darragh, MD. All Abstracts are due to ASCCP by December 14, 2007. The ASCCP Abstract Awards will be announced on March 21, 2008 at the ASCCP 2008 Biennial Meeting. The ASCCP offers five cash prizes for abstracts that are described in the Abstract Instructions linked above.

• The Abstracts must be submitted by December 14, 2007 at www.asccp.org/biennial/submit_abstract/

• Authors must also submit a complete manuscript for publication in the Society's Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease no later than 5 pm ET, Friday, February 29, 2008. The complete manuscript must conform to the instructions for authors as required by the Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease as listed upon www.asccp.org/journal/submission.shtml.

2006 ASCCP BIENNIAL MEETING ABSTRACT AWARDS

Best Overall Resident Prize Paper
#32 Gene Expression Profiling of Women with Varying Degrees of Cervical Dysplasia
James E. Kendrick, MD

Best Scientific Paper Award
#47 Autoclave Sterilization of Instruments used on Women with Cervical Neoplasia is an Effective Method of Eradicating Residual HPV DNA: A PCR-Based Evaluation
Jacob M. Estes, MD

The George C. Trombetta, MD Teaching Award
#42 An Interim Analysis of a Prospective Blinded Evaluation of the Reid Colposcopic Index for Grading Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia
Kristopher J. Kimball, MD

Thomas V. Sedlacek, MD Prize for Best Clinical Research Paper
#17 p16ink4a is Helpful in Discriminating between CIN1 and Equivocal Lesions of the Cervix
Rachel Redman, MD

The ASCCP/Cytyc Young Investigator's Award
#61 Patient Knowledge about Human Papillomavirus and Abnormal Pap Smears
Briana R. Benning, MD

GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING OF WOMEN WITH VARYING DEGREES OF CERVICAL DYSPLASIA Kendrick JE* and Huh WK

University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology

OBJECTIVE: To determine genomic microarray differences in patients with normal cervical tissue and CIN III.
METHODS: Following IRB approval, patients referred to the UAB Colposcopy Clinic for a LEEP were identified. Tissue biopsies of both normal tissue and CIN III from fresh LEEP specimens were obtained and sent to pathology for histologic confirmation. Procurement of these two types of tissue from the same patient controls for different types of HPV infection, smoking and nutritional status, age, immunocompetency, and other microenvironment factors (i.e., the patient serves as their own control). Standard RNA extraction techniques [Qiagen, Valencia, CA, USA] were utilized to prepare the tissue specimens for microarray analysis with the Affymetrix GeneChip U133A expression array. Paired samples were eligible for microarray analysis only when both normal tissue and CIN III were confirmed by pathology. The data were then subsequently subjected to a log-like transformation and analyzed with a t-test. For this study, a p<0.001 was determined to be statistically significant.
RESULTS: 21 pairs of both normal and CIN tissue were obtained, and underwent histologic evaluation followed by RNA extraction. Within the "normal" group, 86% were confirmed as true "normals" and 14% CIN. Within the CIN group, 29% were found to have CIN2, 64% were found to have CIN3, and 7% had no evidence of CIN. Mean RNA content of "normal" samples was 2.0 micrograms, while the mean RNA content of CIN samples was significantly higher at 7.4 micrograms (p=0.006). Using a cutoff of p<0.001, 24 candidate genes were identified from over 18,000 genes. In the CIN III group, 14 genes were overexpressed and 10 genes were underexpressed. 9 of the 14 overexpressed genes were noted to have identities listed in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) public domain. 7 of these 9 genes (78%) were directly related to immunity related pathways. One over-expressed gene was identified as p53.
CONCLUSIONS: The presence of CIN is marked by increased transcriptional activity, evident by an almost 4-fold increase in mean RNA content obtained from our CIN samples versus normal cervical tissue. Furthermore, a number of statistically significant overexpressed genes of interest related to immune function/response and cell cycle control were identified in our pilot microarray study. This data has the ability to direct future research endeavors in the field of cervical neoplasia. Future endeavors include the use of laser capture microdissection to evaluate genomic changes strictly at the epithelial level and as such, exclude stromal response contributions.
KEY WORDS: CIN, RNA, gene expression, HPV, microarrays