Cohort Profile: African Collaborative Center for Microbiome and Genomics Research (accme) Study.

Abstract 65Background:Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in Africa. Much remains unknown about the prevalence and pathogenicity of human papillomavirus (HPV) types and the mechanism of disease, and there is a need for new biomarkers for screening programs.Methods:ACCME is a multicenter prospective cohort study of host germline, somatic and HPV genomics and epigenomics, and vaginal microenvironment; and their association with cervical cancer in 10,000 HIV negative women in Nigeria. Data on demographic, lifestyle, medical history, serum, germline DNA, HPV genotype, and vaginal pH are collected at baseline and during follow up visits every 6 months. Samples of exfoliated cervical cells are analyzed for high risk HPV with Roche LINEAR ARRAY and vaginal bacterial composition and abundance are characterized by deep sequencing of barcoded 16S rRNA gene fragments (V4) on a Illumina MiSeq platform. Colposcopies and biopsies are conducted on participants with clinical lesions and those with persistent...