Wj. Vandriel et al., ASSOCIATION OF ALLELE-SPECIFIC HLA EXPRESSION AND HISTOPATHOLOGIC PROGRESSION OF CERVICAL-CARCINOMA, Gynecologic oncology, 62(1), 1996, pp. 33-41
Immunohistochemical studies have shown that loss of HLA expression is
observed in cervical carcinomas but not in premalignant CIN lesions, i
ndicating that downregulation of HLA is linked to tumor progression. T
he present study was performed to investigate whether the degree of HL
A expression in cervical cancer correlates with more advanced disease
as defined by histopathological features. Frozen tissue sections from
49 patients with squamous carcinoma of the cervix FIGO stage IB to IIB
were stained with HLA class I monomorphic, locus- and allele-specific
monoclonal antibodies. Histological data indicative of local disease,
i.e., depth of invasion, tumor size, stage, and systemic spread of th
e disease, such as tumor-positive lymph nodes, were collected by revie
wing the histological slides. Univariate analysis revealed that loss o
f HLA-A locus and A2-allele expression showed a positive, significant
correlation with both presence of tumor-positive lymph nodes (P = 0.04
and 0.02, respectively) and the number of lymph nodes involved (both
P = 0.04). These results strongly support the idea that, specifically
in an immunogenic cancer type such as cervical cancer, tumor cells esc
ape immunosurveillance and gain growth advantage by allele-specific do
wnregulation of the HLA-A2 molecule. In view of the development of imm
unotherapeutical interventions in cancer, upregulation of HLA class I
molecules may prove to be a useful additional tool in the combat again
st immunogenic tumors. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.