Differential Expression Of Importin13 In Limbal Neoplasms

Object:Importin13(IPO13) is a noval nucleus-cytoplasm transport receptor protein of importin(3 family and p63 was found to act as a positive marker to identify limbal stem cells marker. In this present study, we investigated the differential expression of IPO 13 and p63 in human benign and malignant conjunctiva-cornea neoplasms.Method:All cases were divided into three groups:normal group of 6 cases include normal human limbal and conjunctival tissues, were obtained from keratoplasty donor's eyes. Conjunciva-cornea papilloma (CCP) group of 6 cases and conjunctiva-cornea intraepithelial neoplasia(CCIN) group of 6 cases were obtained from the patients who underwent surgery in Xiangya Hospital and all of tumors were diagnosed by pathological examination. IPO 13 and p63 differential expression in human CCP, CCIN and normal conjunctiva-cornea tissue was examined by immunohistostaining.Result:1. The immunohistostaining on frozen sections showed that IPO 13 was expressed in nuclei of certain basal cells of limbal and conjunctival epithelium and was expressed in nuclei of basal cells and suprabasal cells of CCP and CCIN epithelium. The expression of IPO 13 in normal conjunctiva-cornea groups, CCP and CCIN were gradually increased, the differences among the three groups were statistically significant (p<0.05).2. p63 was expressed in nuclei of basal cells and suprabasal of limbal, conjunctival and CCP epithelium and was expressed in nuclei of the entire CCIN epithelium. The expression of p63 in normal conjunctiva-cornea groups, CCP and CCIN were gradually increased, the differences among the three groups were statistically significant (p<0.05).Conclusions:1.IPO13 is more specifical than p63 on marking the poorly differentiated cells in limbal epithelial proliferative lesions.2. Compared with normal groups, the expression of IPO 13 and p63 in CCP and CCIN tissues were gradually increased, which suggest that IPO 13 and p63 may play a positive regulatory role in conjunctiva-cornea proliferative lesions.3. The differential expression of IPO13 and p63 between benign and malignant limbal epithelial proliferative lesions is significant, which suggest that IPO13 and p63 may play an important role in regulating the abnormal proliferation and differentiation of limbal epithelial proliferative lesions.