IMMUNOMORPHOLOGYCAL INVESTIGATION OF METABOLIC AND PROLIFERATION MARKERS IN SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA OF THE UTERINE CERVIX
Cervical cancer ranks as the 5-th most frequent cancer among women in Russian Federation and the second most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age. Cervical cancerogenesis is a long multi-step process with involvement of many biological factors, primarily cell-cycle regulators. We investigated the roles of p16-protein, Ki-67, Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and Cyclin D1 expression in the determination of the biological potential of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Thirty-seven cases of CIN III and twenty-three cases of invasive cancers were analyzed using TMA- blocks. The increased expression of COX-2 in all invasive cervical cancers was detected, followed by the decreased number of COX-2 positive cells of the tumor stroma. In p16 over-expressing cases of invasive carcinomas the nuclear expression of Cyclin D1 was not found. Immunohistochemical detection of COX-2 appears to be one of useful biological markers in pathological diagnosis of cervical neoplasms. Further studies on the changes of COX-2 expression levels may be helpful for determination of its role in the tumor progression, the response to treatment and patient prognosis. On the basis of the published literature the possible biological roles of COX-2 and cell-cycle markers are discussed.