Kato Kiyoshi, Toki Toshihiko, Shimizu Motohiko, Shiozawa Tanri, Fujii Shingo, Nikaido Toshio, Konishi Ikuo
Department of Obstetrics,Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan.
Int J Gynecol Pathol. 2003 Oct;22(4):334-40. doi: 10.1097/01.pgp.0000092129.10100.5e.
Minichromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins are essential for cell cycling due to their function as replication-licensing factors. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinicopathologic implications of the MCM2 and MCM3 in endometrial carcinogenesis. The authors investigated the immunohistochemical expression of MCM2 and MCM3, Ki-67, estrogen receptor, and progesterone receptor in 23 normal endometria, 9 endometrial hyperplasias, and 60 endometrial carcinomas. In the normal endometrial glands, the expression of MCM2 and MCM3 was significantly higher in the proliferative phase than in the secretory phase and was strongly correlated with Ki-67 expression. Similar correlation between the expression of MCMs and Ki-67 was also found in endometrial hyperplasia. In endometrial carcinomas, however, the expression of MCM2 and MCM3 was significantly lower than that in the normal proliferative endometrium. There was only a weak correlation between MCM2 and Ki-67, and no significant correlation between MCM3 and Ki-67 expression. These findings suggest that the expression of MCM2 and MCM3 directly reflects cell proliferation in normal and hyperplastic endometria. In endometrial carcinomas, however, there is a discrepancy between the expression of MCMs and cell proliferation, suggesting that the replication-licensing system may be aberrant in endometrial carcinomas.
微小染色体维持（MCM）蛋白作为复制许可因子，对细胞周期至关重要。本研究旨在探讨MCM2和MCM3在子宫内膜癌发生中的临床病理意义。作者研究了23例正常子宫内膜、9例子宫内膜增生和60例子宫内膜癌中MCM2、MCM3、Ki-67、雌激素受体和孕激素受体的免疫组化表达。在正常子宫内膜腺体中，MCM2和MCM3的表达在增殖期显著高于分泌期，且与Ki-67表达密切相关。在子宫内膜增生中也发现了MCMs表达与Ki-67之间的类似相关性。然而，在子宫内膜癌中，MCM2和MCM3的表达明显低于正常增殖期子宫内膜。MCM2与Ki-67之间仅有微弱相关性，MCM3与Ki-67表达之间无显著相关性。这些发现表明，MCM2和MCM3的表达直接反映了正常和增生性子宫内膜中的细胞增殖。然而，在子宫内膜癌中，MCMs的表达与细胞增殖之间存在差异，提示子宫内膜癌中的复制许可系统可能异常。
