Publications by authors named "Sonja Schafer"

Dysregulated expression of rab31, a member of the large Rab protein family of the Ras superfamily of small GTPases, has been observed in several types of cancer, including breast cancer. Rab31, depending on its expression level, may regulate the switch between an invasive versus proliferative phenotype of breast cancer cells . Moreover, gene expression of rab31 is induced by the C-terminal subunit of mucin-1 (MUC1-C) and estrogen receptors (ER).

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Objective: To evaluate the acceptability of self-collected vaginal samples for HPV testing in women living in rural and urban areas of Madagascar.

Materials And Methods: Participants were recruited in a health care center (urban group) and smaller affiliated dispensaries (rural group). They were invited to perform unsupervised self-sampling for HPV testing and to answer a questionnaire on socio-demographic information, cervical cancer knowledge and self-sampling acceptability.

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Background: This study used community-based cervical cancer screening for high-risk human-papillomavirus (HPV) to determine demographic and lifestyle factors associated with HPV prevalence and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+).

Methods: Women (n=838) aged 25-65 years were recruited in two sequential studies in Cameroon. Demographic and historical data were obtained from participants and specimens were self-collected for HPV-testing using real-time PCR.

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Developing countries are interested in using human papillomavirus (HPV) testing as a primary screening test for cervical cancer prevention programs. The low specificity of the HPV assay requires triage testing of HPV-positive women. The aim of the study is to compare visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and cytology as triage testing methods in HPV-positive women to detect cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or Grade 2 or higher (CIN2+).

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Background: Rab proteins constitute a large family of monomeric GTP-binding proteins that regulate intracellular vesicle transport. Several Rab proteins, including rab31, have been shown to affect cancer progression and are related with prognosis in various types of cancer including breast cancer. Recently, the gene encoding rab31 was found to be overexpressed in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer tissue.

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