title: Expression of human kallikrein 7 (hK7/SCCE) and its inhibitor antileukoprotease (ALP/SLPI) in uterine endocervical glands and in cervical adenocarcinomas.
abstract: To investigate the potential role of human kallikrein 7 (hK7/SCCE) and its inhibitor antileukoprotease (ALP/SLPI) in the development and progression of uterine cervical adenocarcinoma, we examined hK7 and ALP protein expression by immunohistochemistry in 70 cervical adenocarcinomas and 13 normal cervical tissues. Positive hK7 expression rates in normal endocervical glands and in cervical adenocarcinomas were 46.2 and 80%, respectively. A significantly higher hK7 expression rate was observed in cervical adenocarcinomas compared to normal endocervical glands (p=0.0099). In contrast, positive ALP detection rates in normal endocervical glands and in cervical adenocarcinomas were 100 and 15.7%, respectively. A significantly lower ALP detection rate was observed in cervical adenocarcinomas compared to normal endocervical glands (p<0.0001). There was a significant inverse correlation between hK7 and ALP expression status (p=0.0010). However, no statistically significant differences in hK7 or ALP expression status were found with respect to age, clinical stage, histological grade and lymph node metastasis status in cervical adenocarcinoma cases. Log-rank testing showed that advanced clinical stage and positive lymph node metastasis significantly correlated with poor patient survival (p=0.0005 and p<0.0001, respectively), whereas no correlation was found between hK7 or ALP expression and survival. These results suggest that increased expression of hK7 and decreased expression of ALP might play an important role in cervical adenocarcinoma development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Xiurong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Kazushi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shigemasa
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Yoshimi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uebaba
authors.forename: Nobutaka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: Koso
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohama
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000378:metabolism*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007610:Kallikreins; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D053491:Proteinase Inhibitory Proteins, Secretory; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D053481:Secretory Leukocyte Peptidase Inhibitor; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D015996:Survival Rate; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D053491:Proteinase Inhibitory Proteins, Secretory; D011506:Proteins; C506814:SLPI protein, human; D053481:Secretory Leukocyte Peptidase Inhibitor; C082472:KLK7 protein, human; D007610:Kallikreins; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases