The Expression And Clinical Significance Of Mucin In Benign And Malignant Cervical Lesions

Objectives:To detect the expression of mucin (MUC) in benign and malignant cervical lesions, to analyze the relationship between mucin expression and clinicopathologic features of cervical cancer, and to explore the significance and role of mucin in the early diagnosis of cervical lesions and cervical cancer, which may be rewarding to understand the pathogenesis and development of cervical cancer and provide the theoretical basis for investigating the methods for differential diagnosis and prognosis of cervical lesions and cervical cancer.Methods:Five antibodies of MUC 1, MUC2, MUC4, MUC5AC and MUC20 were detected by immunohistochemistry in 158 cases of cervical tissues, including 52 cases of cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC,14 well differentiated,26 moderately differentiated, and 12 poorly differentiated),16 cases of endocervical adenocarcinoma,60 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN,20 CINIII,20 CINâ…¡,20 CIN I),15 cases of chronic cervicitis and 15 cases of normal cervical tissues. According to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) 2009 stage, squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix was divided as:23 cases of stage I or II,29 cases of stageâ…¢ or â…£. All patients had no radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other treatments for cervical cancer before biopsy or surgery.Results: â‘ Normal cervical glandular epithelium showed high expression of MUC1, MUC4 and MUC5AC, and partial expression of MUC20. No MUC2 staining was in any normal or benign cervical tissues.â‘¡Chronic cervicitisâ†'cervical intraepithelial neoplasiaâ†'cervical squamous cell carcinoma, the expression of MUC2 and MUC5AC was not statistically significant (P>0.05), but the expression of MUC 1, MUC4 and MUC20 was statistically significant (P<0.05), namely that the positive staining of MUC 1, MUC4 and MUC20 was progressively up-regulation from chronic cervicitis to CIN and SCC. Compared to normal glandular tissues, the positive expression of MUC2 in cervical adenocarcinoma was increased (P<0.05), while the expression of MUC 1 and MUC5AC in adenocarcinoma was significantly reduced (P<0.05).â‘¢The expression of MUC1 was related with the depth of invasion and clinical stage of squamous cell carcinoma of cervix (P<0.05). The positive rates of MUC4 and MUC20 were associated with the degree of differentiation and clinical stage of cervical squamous cell carcinoma (MUC4, P<0.05; MUC20, P<0.01).â‘£In our study, chronic cervicitisâ†'CINâ†'SCC, the expression of MUC1, MUC4 and MUC20 was statistically significant, so the correlation analysis was just used for the three mucins. There was a correlation between the expression of MUC4 and MUC20 in CIN (P<0.05), namely, the stronger the expression of MUC4 was, the higher the positive rate of MUC20 was. In cervical squamous cell carcinoma, the staining of MUC4 had a positive impact on the expression of MUC1 and MUC20 (MUC1, P<0.01; MUC20, P<0.01), that is to say, MUC4 expressed more strong, the positive rates of MUC1 and MUC20 were higher.Conclusions:â‘ In cervical adenocarcinoma, different mucins showed different expression, MUC1 and MUC5AC minght be beneficial for the judgement of cervical adenocarcinoma. When the disease originated in doubt, it may facilitate early identification and diagnosis of cervical adenocarcinoma.â‘¡In cervical squamous cell carcinoma, the expression of mucins was different. The expression of different mucins was in relation to certain clinical and pathological characteristics of SCC, and some mucin factors were statistically correlated, suggesting that mucin may contribute to the diagnosis and prognosis of cervical cancer.â‘¢From benign cervical lesions to cervical cancer, the expression of mucins was different, and the difference was statistically significant, indicating that mucins may be involved in the development of cervical cancer.