Abstract:

Objective To investigate the correlation of expressions of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and proto-oncogenes c-jun and c-fos of cervical squamous cell carcinomas (CSCC) and clinical features and short-term efficacy. Methods The fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry method were adopted to detect the number of EGFR gene copies and protein expression levels of EGFR, c-jun, and c-fos of CSCC tissues of 60 cases. Results The numbers of EGFR gene copies were 32.2% for diploid, 25.4% for triploid, 30.5% for polyploid, and 11.9% for gene amplification. The positive protein expression rates of EGFR, c-jun, and c-fos were 70.0%, 76.7%, and 68.3% and correlated with the lymph node metastasis and tumor differentiation (P<0.01). The protein expression of EGFR correlated with the clinical stages (P<0.01). Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that the protein expression level of EGFR positively correlated with the increase of gene copies (r=0.622, P=0.000); protein expressions of c-jun and c-fos positively correlated with the clinical stages (r=0.293, P=0.023; r=0.296, P=0.022); the protein expression level of EGFR positively correlated with protein expressions levels of c-jun and c-fos (r=0.422, P=0.001; r=0.509, P=0.000); and protein expressions of EGFR, c-jun, and c-fos did not significantly affect the objective efficiency (P>0.05). Conclusion Expressions of EGFR, c-jun, and c-fos may be reference indexes of the development and metastasis of CSCC and may not be independent factors that affect the short-term efficacy of CSCC. The c-jun and c-fos may play a positive regulatory role in EGFR-mediated signal transduction pathway.

Key words: cervical squamous cell carcinoma, epidermal growth factor receptor, proto-oncogene c-jun, proto-oncogene c-fos, short-term efficacy