title: Expression of CDC42 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma and its correlation with clinicopathologic characteristics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The high expression of cell division cycle 42 protein (CDC42) may be involved in the occurrence and progression of several tumors. However, the expression and function of CDC42 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the expression of CDC42 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma and its correlation with clinicopathologic characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression of CDC42 in 162 cervical squamous cell carcinoma tissue samples and 33 normal cervical tissue samples was investigated by immunohistochemistry. The CDC42 mRNA expression was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cervical squamous cell carcinoma group showed a significantly higher CDC42 positive rate, compared to the normal cervical tissues (P<0.05). Furthermore, the tissues of stage II-IV carcinoma patients showed higher CDC42 expression levels compared to stage I patients (P=0.05). In addition, the expression of CDC42 was not correlated to age of patients, differentiation degree of cancer cells, or lymph node metastasis (P>0.05). Furthermore, compare with normal cervical tissues, the CDC42 mRNA expression in cervical cancer had no significant difference.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CDC42 was up-regulated at protein level, but not mRNA level, in cervical squamous cell carcinoma. The high expression of CDC42 was correlated to the clinical stage of the patients, indicating that CDC42 might contribute to the progression of cervical squamous cell carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China;
authors.forename: Ding
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China;
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Vascular Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital and Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Molecular Biology and Regulatory Peptide, Ministry of Health, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Youyi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China;
authors.forename: Yanli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Vascular Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital and Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Molecular Biology and Regulatory Peptide, Ministry of Health, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Zijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China;
authors.forename: Geng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: Cell division cycle 42 protein (CDC42); cervical squamous cell carcinoma; expression