title: Prognostic value of podoplanin expression in intratumoral stroma and neoplastic cells of uterine cervical carcinomas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the clinicopathological significance of podoplanin expression in the intratumoral stroma and neoplastic cells of early stage uterine cervical cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 143 patients with clinical stage I and IIA uterine cervical carcinomas underwent surgery between 2000 and 2007. Clinicopathological data and slides associated with these cases were retrospectively reviewed. Immunodetection of podoplanin expression in histologic sections of tissue microarray blocks was performed using the monoclonal antibody D2-40.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Expression of podoplanin was detected in neoplastic cells in 31/143 (21.6%) cases, with 29/31 (93.5%) of these cases diagnosed as squamous carcinoma. For all of the cases examined, the strongest signal for podoplanin expression was observed at the proliferating edge of the tumor nests. The rate of positive podoplanin expression for node-positive cases was lower than that of node-negative (18.9% vs. 22.6%, respectively). Furthermore, the rate of positive podoplanin expression in fatal cases was 10.5% vs. 21.6%, respectively. In 27/143 (18.8%) cases, podoplanin expression was detected in fibroblasts of the intratumoral stroma, and this expression did not correlate with patient age, clinical stage, tumor size, histologic type, depth of infiltration, or vascular involvement. Moreover, expression of podoplanin in intratumoral stroma fibroblasts was only negatively associated with nodal metastasis. A greater number of fatal cases was observed among negative intratumoral stroma fibroblasts (15.5% vs. 3.7%, respectively), although this difference was not significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These preliminary results suggest that podoplanin may have a role in host-tumor interactions and, as a result, may represent a favorable prognostic factor for squamous cervical carcinomas.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. filomena@usp.br
authors.forename: Filomena M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Fabricia L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Zaganelli
authors.forename: Bernardo G L
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: Joao Carlos Sampaio
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Goes
authors.forename: Edmund C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Baracat
authors.forename: Jesus P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D018196:Carcinoma, Adenosquamous / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000556:secondary*; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000098853:Podoplanin
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; C117468:PDPN protein, human; D000098853:Podoplanin