EVALUATION OF THE PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE OF NM23 NDP KINASE PROTEIN EXPRESSION IN CERVICAL-CARCINOMA - AN IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY/

The objective of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significanc e of immunohistochemical staining for nm23/nucleoside diphosphate (NDP ) kinase in cervical carcinoma, A retrospective analysis of 176 patien ts with cervical carcinoma FIGO stage IB treated with radical hysterec tomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy from 1987 to 1990 was conducted. Immun ohistochemical staining using the polyclonal nm23-H1/NDP kinase A anti body was correlated to various histopathological and morphological cha racteristics (tumor size, histologic type, grade of differentiation, v essel invasion, invasion into parametria, and lymph node metastasis) a nd relapse-free survival. For controls, sections were obtained from 10 hysterectomy specimens with normal cervical epithelium. Staining for nm23/NDP kinase was observed in 90% of control cases and in 70.5% of c ases of cervical carcinoma, more frequent in squamous and adenosquamou s cell carcinoma than in adenocarcinoma and more frequent in poorly di fferentiated than in more highly differentiated tumors. There were no differences related to size of tumor or invasion into vessels or param etria or occurrence of lymph node metastasis. The relapse-free surviva l was lower for patients with squamous cell and adenosquamous tumors w ith positive immunostaining for nm23/NDP kinase than for those with ne gative tumors when evaluated in univariate analysis. In multivariate a nalysis with tumor size, vessel invasion, invasion into parametria, gr ade of differentiation, and lymph node metastasis included, this diffe rence was no longer significant. In patients with adenocarcinoma no di fference was found. In conclusion, we did not find immunostaining for nm23/NDP kinase to be a useful indicator for prognosis in canter of th e uterine cervix. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.