Involucrin and tumor progression in the uterine cervix.
The expression of involucrin, a cytoplasmic protein synthesized during squamous maturation, was assessed by immunocytochemistry in different grades of cervical lesions. In normal/benign cervical epithelium and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions [SILS or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)-1] involucrin showed intense and homogenous cytoplasmic expression in the spinal layers of 75 and 57% of samples, respectively. The basal cell layers showed no expression of involucrin. In high-grade SILs (CIN-2/3) 40% of the samples showed diffuse and focal cytoplasmic expression of involucrin in the differentiated basaloid cells. In the squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) analyzed, well-differentiated tumors showed intense focal expression in 61% of the cases, moderately differentiated SCCs showed intense expression in 33% of the cases, while poorly differentiated SCCs (PDSCC) showed only a mild focal expression in 7% of cases. With increasing severity of the lesions, patchy expression of involucrin with a mixture of reactive and nonreactive cells predominated. Patterns of immunocytochemical staining for involucrin in cervical lesions of different grades, from low-grade to high-grade SILs, and invasive carcinoma may be of critical importance, if loss of involucrin expression is used as a criterion for neoplastic transformation in cervical epithelium. Our findings suggest that involucrin may be a sensitive marker in identifying the differentiation status of the lesion while the absence of involucrin in PDSCC may be helpful in differential diagnosis.
Nair
S A
SA
Division of Laboratory Medicine, Regional Cancer Center, Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Nair
M B
MB
Jayaprakash
P G
PG
Rajalekshmy
T N
TN
Nair
M K
MK
Pillai
M R
MR
D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000378:metabolism*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011498:Protein Precursors; C032253:involucrin