title: Prognostic significance of p-STAT3 in patients with bulky cervical carcinoma undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Chel Hun
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Sang Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Heeseok
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Yoo-Young
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chul-Jung
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jeong-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Tae-Joong
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Byoung-Gie
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Je-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Duk-Soo
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Bae
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494086:STAT3 protein, human