Elevated Expression of p73 and Its Relation to VEGF and TSP-1 Production in Cervical Carcinoma

Seo, Sang Gi; Lee, Sun Kyung; Kim, Seung Bo; Chi, Sung Gil

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Measure the over-expression of p73 and analyze as the prognostic as well as angiogenic factor of cervical cancer by comparing the degree of expression of VEGF and TSP-1 by RT-PCR.
METHODS
7 normal and 37 cervical cancer specimens were put through RT-PCR and the expression of p73, VEGF and TSP-1 were measured. After immunohistochemical staining, the number of microvessels was counted. With the level of expression, investigated the relationship with the clinicopathological characteristics and the number of microvessels.
RESULTS
57% of cancer tissues showed abnormally high levels of p73 mRNA. In quantitative genomic DNA PCR, the p73 was over-expressed in the transcription level. Through allotyping with Sty I polymorphism, the over-expression of p73 was due to the transcription activity of the silent allele. In RT-PCR-SSCP analysis of over-expressed specimens, sequence alterations was not seen. In 73%, VEGF was over-expressed while TSP-1 was under-expressed in 35%. There was no association between the number of microvessels with the over-expression of p73 and VEGF, but inversely associated with the under-expression of TSP-1. There was no correlation between the over-expression of p73 and the clinicopathological characteristics. The over-expression of p73 coincided 80% with the over-expression of VEGF, and 40% with the under-expression of TSP-1.
CONCLUSION
These data support the expression of p73 was increased in cervical cancer tissues and was associated with the over-expression of the VEGF but not associated with the under-expression of TSP-1. The biological and clinical significance of the over-expression of p73 should be studied further in the future.