Expression of activated signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 predicts poor prognosis in cervical squamous-cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Stat3 is a member of the Janus-activated kinase/STAT signalling pathway. It normally resides in the cytoplasm and can be activated through phosphorylation. Activated Stat3 (p-Stat3) translocates to the nucleus to activate the transcription of several molecules involved in cell survival and proliferation. The constitutive activation of Stat3 has been shown in various types of malignancies, and its expression has been reported to indicate a poor prognosis. However, the correlation between the constitutive activation of Stat3 and the prognosis of cervical cancer patients has not been reported.


METHODS
The immunohistochemical analysis of p-Stat3 expression was performed on tissues from 125 cervical squamous-cell carcinoma patients who underwent extended hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy, and the association of p-Stat3 expression with several clinicopathological factors and survival was investigated.


RESULTS
Positive p-Stat3 expression was observed in 71 of 125 (56.8%) cases and was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis, lymph vascular space invasion, and large tumour diameter (>4 cm) by Fisher's exact test. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that p-Stat3 expression was statistically indicative of a poor prognosis for overall survival (P=0.006) and disease-free survival (P=0.010) by log-rank test.


CONCLUSIONS
These data showed that p-Stat3 expression in cervical cancer acts as a predictor of poor prognosis.
Takemoto
S
S
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan. takemoto_shyuuji@kurume-u.ac.jp
Ushijima
K
K
Kawano
K
K
Yamaguchi
T
T
Terada
A
A
Fujiyoshi
N
N
Nishio
S
S
Tsuda
N
N
Ijichi
M
M
Kakuma
T
T
Kage
M
M
Hori
D
D
Kamura
T
T
D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000502:physiology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011379:Prognosis; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor / Q000032:analysis*; D015996:Survival Rate; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000032:analysis; D051020:bcl-X Protein / Q000032:analysis
C494811:BCL2L1 protein, human; D015850:Interleukin-6; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494086:STAT3 protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D051020:bcl-X Protein