Cervical cancer is a common malignant tumor in women, and early screening intervention can significantly reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality. However, the existing screening system based on human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA detection and cytological examination has some problems, such as difficulty in balancing sensitivity and specificity, lack of shunt accuracy, and lack of clear basis for diagnosis and treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade II (CIN2). Abnormal DNA methylation gradually accumulate with the progress of cervical lesions. Methylation based detection technology can be used for stratified shunt of HPV positive people and predict the progress or regression of CIN2 lesions. At the same time, it can achieve secondary accurate shunt of atypical squamous cells and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, which can effectively reduce the colposcopy referral rate and provide a reliable reference for the precise diagnosis and treatment of CIN2 patients. In addition, DNA methylation detection has the outstanding advantages of stable results, high reproducibility, objective interpretation standards, and support for patients' self sampling, which is expected to make up for the shortcomings of the existing screening system and become a new and effective technical means to optimize the cervical cancer screening process. This article systematically reviews the research progress of DNA methylation detection in cervical cancer screening, aiming to clarify its clinical application advantages, and provide theoretical support for improving the existing cervical cancer screening strategy and realizing the precise triage diagnosis and treatment of cervical lesions.

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