Abstract:

Objective To investigate the expression of transcription factor Twist in human cervical cancer (squamous cell carcinoma), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and normal cervical tissues, and explore its clinicopathological significance. Methods Samples of cervical cancer (cervical cancer group, n=61), CINⅠ(CINⅠgroup, n=22）, CINⅡ-Ⅲ (CINⅡ-Ⅲ group, n=44) and normal cervical tissues (normal control group, n=22) were collected, the expression of Twist protein in cervical tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry, and its relationship with clinical biological behaviors of cervical cancer was analysed. Results The expression rates of Twist protein in normal control group, CIN Ⅰ group, CINⅡ-Ⅲ group and cervical cancer group were 0, 40.90%, 68.18% and 70.49%, respectively. The expression rates of Twist protein in cervical cancer group, CINⅠ group and CINⅡ-Ⅲ group were significantly higher than that in normal control group (P<0.01). However, there was no significant difference in the expression rates of Twist protein among cervical cancer group, CIN Ⅰ group and CINⅡ-Ⅲ group (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the expression rates of Twist protein among patients with different ages, FIGO clinical stages and lymphovascular space invasion status in cervical cancer group (P>0.05). The expression rate of Twist protein in poorly-differentiated and undifferentiated tumors (94.44%) was significantly higher than that in well-differentiated and medium-differentiated tumors (60.47％)(P<0.05), and the expression rate of Twist protein in patients with lymph node metastasis (93.75%) was significantly higher than that in those without lymph node metastasis (62.22％)(P<0.05). Conclusion There is high expression of Twist protein in cervical cancer, which may be helpful in the evaluation of differentiation and metastasis of cancer.

Key words: Twist, transcription factor, cervical cancer, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, immunohistochemistry