title: Expression of CHOP in squamous tumor of the uterine cervix.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection and abnormal p53 expression are closely involved in carcinogenesis of squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) of uterine cervix. Recent studies have suggested that virus-induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress modulates various cell survival and cell death signaling pathways. The C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) is associated with ER stress-mediated apoptosis and is also involved in carcinogenesis of several human cancers. We hypothesized that CHOP is involved in the carcinogenesis of uterine cervical cancer in association with HR-HPV and/or p53.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze CHOP and p53 protein expression of tissue sections from 191 patients with invasive cancer or preinvasive lesions of the uterine cervix (61 cases of SqCC, 66 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia [CIN] III, and 64 cases of CIN I).
  
  
  RESULTS
  CHOP was expressed in 59.4% of CIN I, 48.5% of CIN III, and 70.5% of SqCC cases. It was also significantly more frequent in invasive SqCC than in preinvasive lesions (p=0.042). Moreover, CHOP expression significantly correlated with HR-HPV infection and p53 expression (p=0.009 and p=0.038, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that CHOP is involved in the carcinogenesis of the uterine cervix SqCC via association with HR-HPV and p53.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun Hee
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Jun Sang
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Kyoung Min
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ho Sung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Dong Hyu
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Kyu Yun
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Woo Sung
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Myoung Jae
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Dong Geun
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Myoung Ja
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Chung
keywords: DNA probes, HPV; Transcription factor CHOP; Tumor suppressor protein p53; Uterine cervical neoplasms