Two studies presented at the Association for Molecular Pathology annual meeting highlight how molecular testing could help guide treatment for a sexually transmitted infection and identify patients at greater risk of endometrial cancer recurrence.
Two new studies on women’s health are being presented at the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) 2026 Annual Meeting & Expo, held Nov 10–14 in Seattle. One shows high rates of antibiotic resistance in a sexually transmitted infection, and the other uses DNA methylation to separate recurrence risk in a common form of endometrial cancer.
According to AMP, molecular diagnostic approaches are expanding the information available to clinicians and laboratory professionals, including by uncovering antimicrobial resistance, identifying pathogens missed by conventional methods, revealing cancer recurrence risks, and characterizing complex tumor biology.
Reflex Testing for Mycoplasma genitalium Resistance
Researchers at Unified Women’s Healthcare and Alline (formerly Florida Woman Care) analyzed 121,966 vaginal swab specimens to learn more about Mycoplasma genitalium, an emerging sexually transmitted infection associated with urethritis, cervicitis, and pelvic inflammatory disease.
Of 4,605 positive specimens with evaluable results, 41.5% showed resistance to macrolides, an antibiotic class, which limits treatment options.
The team also implemented automated reflex testing. It achieved a median turnaround time of four days, supporting the feasibility of CDC-recommended resistance-guided treatment in high-volume women’s health settings.
The study, “Mycoplasma genitalium and Macrolide Resistance Prevalence Across a Large Women’s Health Cohort: Implementation of a Reflex Testing Algorithm That Supports CDC-Recommended Resistance-Guided Treatment,” was led by John Fulmer, MS, MB(ASCP), of Unified Women’s Healthcare. He will present it during a poster session at 9:15 am Saturday, Nov 14, at the Seattle Convention Center.
Methylation Profiling in Endometrial Cancer
In the oncology study, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, profiled DNA methylation in 219 tumors to identify patterns associated with recurrence of low-grade, limited-stage, copy number–low endometrioid adenocarcinoma, which is the most common type of endometrial cancer.
The data showed a spectrum of methylation changes that strongly correlated with recurrence risk. Clusters defined by methylation also showed differential enrichment in CTNNB1 and DICER1 mutations, as well as copy number gains in chromosome 1q, suggesting differences in underlying tumor biology.
According to AMP, the findings suggest epigenetic profiling may help distinguish recurrence risk among patients whose tumors otherwise share similar clinical and pathologic characteristics.
The study, “Methylomic Stratification of Recurrence Risk in Primary, Low-Grade, Copy Number-Low Endometrioid Adenocarcinoma of the Uterus,” was led by Matthew Zunitch, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco. He will present it during a poster session on Nov 13, at the Seattle Convention Center.
AMP was founded in 1995 and has more than 3,100 members working in disciplines that include bioinformatics, infectious diseases, inherited conditions, and oncology.
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