Aberrant expression of alpha-dystroglycan in cervical and vulvar cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Cervical and vulvar cancers develop through well-defined precursor lesions but their exact pathogenesis is still unknown. The dystroglycan complex is a transmembrane glycoprotein that forms a continuous link from the extracellular matrix to the actin cytoskeleton. Deregulated expression of dystroglycan has been reported in human malignancies and related to tumor differentiation and aggressiveness. In this study, expression of dystroglycan was evaluated in the multistep cervical and vulvar tumorigenesis.


METHODS
Expression of the dystroglycan complex was evaluated by immunostaining in lesions representing different stages of vulvar and cervical tumorigenesis using a monoclonal antibody which recognizes carbohydratic epitopes on the alpha-dystroglycan subunit.


RESULTS
alpha-dystroglycan was constantly detected in normal cervical epithelium with a mean percentage of positive cells higher than 80%. A progressive significant reduction in the mean percentage of positive cells was observed in low (67%) and high grade SIL (14%) and in invasive carcinomas (2.6%) of the cervix. In cancers, no differences were observed in terms of percentage of positive cells when cases were stratified according with either tumor grade or stage. A progressive significant reduction in the mean percentage of positive cells was also observed from normal vulvar epithelium (90%) to VIN1 (66%), VIN2 (28%) and invasive vulvar carcinomas (22%). No significant decrease in the alpha-dystroglycan staining was observed in squamous cell hyperplasia lesions (85%) while lichen sclerosus displayed a percentage of positive cells (47%) significantly lower than normal epithelium.


CONCLUSIONS
Detection of alpha-dystroglycan is frequently lost in human cervical and vulvar tumorigenesis and further studies are warranted to verify whether evaluation of this molecule might serve as marker of risk progression of preneoplastic lesions and to better understand its significance in terms of cancer development.
Sgambato
Alessandro
A
Centro di Ricerche Oncologiche Giovanni XXIII-Istituto di Patologia Generale, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy. asgambato@rm.unicatt.it
Tarquini
Elisabetta
E
Resci
Federica
F
De Paola
Barbara
B
Faraglia
Beatrice
B
Camerini
Andrea
A
Rettino
Alessandro
A
Migaldi
Mario
M
Cittadini
Achille
A
Zannoni
Gian Franco
GF
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D049030:Dystroglycans / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D014846:Vulvar Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
C483081:DAG1 protein, human; D049030:Dystroglycans