Prognostic significance of p-STAT3 in patients with bulky cervical carcinoma undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
OBJECTIVE
To better predict treatment responses for managing bulky cervical carcinoma with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).


METHODS
The expression of p-STAT3 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry using paraffin-embedded pretreatment cervical biopsy tissues. The study included 29 patients with bulky IB to IIA cervical squamous cell carcinoma treated with NAC.


RESULTS
Twenty (69.0%) of 29 patients were scored as p-STAT3-positive. Pathological response to chemotherapy (complete response or residual tumor with less than 3 mm stromal invasion) was observed in eight patients (27.6%). The p-STAT3-positive patients had a longer disease-free survival compared to p-STAT3-negative patients (P = 0.03), though they had more frequent clinical nodal involvement (P = 0.046).


CONCLUSIONS
Pretreatment assessment of p-STAT3 expression may provide additional information for the identification of patients with cervical cancer who have a favorable prognosis.
Choi
Chel Hun
CH
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Song
Sang Yong
SY
Kang
Heeseok
H
Lee
Yoo-Young
YY
Kim
Chul-Jung
CJ
Lee
Jeong-Won
JW
Kim
Tae-Joong
TJ
Kim
Byoung-Gie
BG
Lee
Je-Ho
JH
Bae
Duk-Soo
DS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011379:Prognosis; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494086:STAT3 protein, human