Cervical cancer is a preventable disease, yet one of the most common causes of death among women globally, despite screening measures proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). In Malawi, efforts have focused on scaling up cervical cancer screening programs, as well as vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV). Still, the disease remains prevalent, with poor long-term survival for invasive cancer. Researchers believe there could be a genetic susceptibility to the development of the disease within particular populations.
Samuel Gwayi, a PhD student (candidate) in his final year at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in Blantyre, was recently funded to identify genetic markers that could be associated with cervical cancer within the Malawi population, supported by an M-CORP training grant through the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases.
The study was conducted at the Malawi National Cancer Center, where Gwayi collected blood samples from patients with cervical cancer, individuals above the age of 18 years diagnosed with cervical cancer. After sequencing 20 genomes, Gwayi is now looking for genomic mutations, to see if there’s something that makes the Malawi population more prone to the disease, compared to a control set from the African ancestry genomes within the 1000 Genomes Project. He came to Chapel Hill for three months to analyze the data.
Gwayi’s interest in genomic cancer came from witnessing relatives affected by the disease and being exposed to patients struggling with disease.
“I used to work in the hospital as a lab technician, where I saw the diagnosis of cervical cancer. I knew how terrible the disease was, and I wondered, what is it that is making the disease so bad? I need to work in this field,” said Gwayi.
“Malawi has the second highest incidence of cervical cancer in the world after Eswatin. Maybe there is some genetic related change that is making Malawian women more prone to the disease than other populations. If we find a mutation, we can develop a genetic based screening program.”
In other countries, genetic studies have been conducted in order to identify variants associated with cervical cancer. These studies have identified gene mutations associated with the disease specific to the population. However, these studies have shown that the gene mutations are unique to a particular population such that they cannot be generalized to a different population Hence, in Malawi, despite, the high cervical cancer mortality and incidence rate, genetic variants that predispose women to the disease and may contribute to the disease progression are not known. Thus, this study aims at investigating these unknown genetic variants through conducting an association study which will facilitate the identification of possible
Findings will form the basis for a genetic based approach to cervical cancer prevention, disease management and control within the population as well as globally.
Gwayi’s mentor is Yuri Feoriw, MD, the Institute’s Director of Global Cancer Pathology and Co-Director of the UNC Project-Malawi Cancer Program.