The expression and interaction of HLA-G and IL-10 in cervical cancer

Kim, Young Tae; Yoon, Bo Sung; Kim, Jae Wook; Kim, Sung Hoon; Kim, Jae Hoon; Kim, Sang Wun; Nam, Eun Ji

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
To determine the expression of HLA-G and IL-10 and their correlation in tissue of cervical cancer, and to investigate the relationship between their expression and clinicopathologic factors in patients with cervical cancer.
METHODS
Tissue samples were obtained from 40 patients diagnosed with cervical cancer and 15 patients with normal cervix for control from Oct. 2004 to Oct. 2005. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR for HLA-G mRNA and semi-quantitative RT-PCR for IL-10 mRNA were used. And proteins of HLA-G and IL-10 were detected by Western blot analysis.
RESULTS
Both HLA-G and IL-10 mRNA expression in cervical cancer tissue were higher than normal control, which was statistically significant (P<0.001, P<0.001). The proteins levels of HLA-G and IL-10 in cancer group were also significantly higher than control (P<0.001, P=0.041). The mRNA expression of HLA-G tended to be correlated with IL-10 expression (P=0.061), although it was not statistically significant. Among clinicopathologic factors of cervical cancer, there was inverse relationship between FIGO stage and mRNA value of HLA-G (P=0.045).
CONCLUSIONS
The mRNA and protein expression of HLA-G and IL-10 in cervical cancer were much higher than in controls. These results showed that HLA-G and IL-10 might have an important role of tumorigenesis in patients with cervical cancer. The levels of HLA-G and IL-10 seem to be correlated although it was not statistically significant. High HLA-G mRNA expression could be related in early tumorigenesis since it was associated with early stage cervical cancer.