Expression of CD44, p53 and p21 in Uterine Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia and Squamous Cell Carcinoma with Respect to HPV Status

Park, Chul Hee; Kim, Ki Hyung; Shin, Byung Sub; Lee, Chang Hoon; Yoon, Man Soo

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To clarify the possible role of CD44, p53 and p21 in the development or progression of uterine cervical tumors, an immunohistochemical investigation was carried out on 99 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) III and stage Ib squamous cell carcinoma. Abnormal expression of CD44, p53 and p21 has been observed in a variety of human tumor, but little is known about its expression during cervical carcinogenesis.
METHODS
The author examined the expression pattern of CD44, p53, and p21 in CIN III and invasive carcinoma groups with respect to high risk HPV positivity and tumor invasion.
RESULTS
CD44s was expressed in CIN III and invasive carcinoma groups, and the positivities of expression were 75.0% and 52.7%, respectively. The positivities of CD44-v5 and CD44-v6 expression were 81.8%, 63.6% and 43.2%, 36.4%, respectively. The positivities of p53 and p21 expression in CIN III and invasive carcinoma groups were 18.2, 40.0% and 54.5%, 36.4%, respectively. This study revealed that neither CD44s nor CD44v appears to have independent prognostic relevance. No association between p53 immunostaining and p21 expression was found. Expression of CD44 and p21 was independent of the high risk HPV status, but expression of p53 is higher in the high risk HPV negative cases.
CONCLUSION
The author demonstrated reduced expression of CD44 and increased expression of p53 with progression from CIN III to invasive squamous cell carcinoma. CD44 may have an important role in early tumorigenesis. Immunohistochemically detected CD44, p53 and p21 appeared to be of no predictive value with regard to clinical outcome.