EXPRESSION OF P150 IN CERVICAL NEOPLASIA AND ITS POTENTIAL VALUE IN PREDICTING SURVIVAL

BACKGROUND. A recently cloned novel p150 protein was found to be overe xpressed in human breast carcinoma. To the authors' knowledge, no data on p150 expression in any other human tumors have been published prev iously. METHODS. To investigate whether the expression of p150 correla ted with the clinicopathologic stages of cervical neoplasms or the pro gnoses of patients with these neoplasms, the authors conducted an immu nohistochemical study of archival formalin fixed, paraffin embedded sp ecimens. Seventy-two precancerous lesions (CIN), 75 clinical Stage IB invasive squamous carcinomas, and 20 samples of normal squamous epithe lia were included. In addition to p150, the Ki-67 labeling index was a ssessed as a proliferation parameter. The presence of human papillomav irus was analyzed by in situ DNA hybridization. RESULTS. A significant association of p150 with the grade of atypia in cervical neoplasms wa s demonstrated. The highest expression of p150 was observed in low gra de CIN, with subsequently decreasing expression in high grade CIN and invasive carcinoma. For patients with invasive carcinoma, p150 was sig nificantly correlated with clinical outcome. Patients with high expres sion of p150 had a better prognosis than those with low p150. Those wi th regional lymph node metastasis and significant p150 expression had longer relapse free survival than those with insignificant p150 expres sion. Women whose carcinomas demonstrated vascular space invasion or h igh microvessel density survived longer hen p150 was clearly expressed . p150 behaves as a potential tumor marker during early cervical carci noma development and is later turned off as cells proceed to more adva nced stages of their malignant phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS. p150 is a mole cular parameter that might become useful in predicting disease progres sion and determining the prognoses of patients with invasive cervical carcinoma. Cancer 1998;83:1376-83. (C) 1998 American Cancer Society.