Department of Traditional Chinese Integrated Western Medicine, Qi Lu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, People's Republic of China.
Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2014 Mar;289(3):637-44. doi: 10.1007/s00404-013-3009-3. Epub 2013 Aug 25.
Vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC) contributes to about 3-5% of all gynecological cancers. Vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN) and vulvar lichen sclerosus (VLS) are regarded as precancerous lesions. Early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions may prevent development of VSCC. Osteopontin (OPN) has been shown to be involved in many physiological and pathological processes, such as tumor progression, by promoting cancer cell invasion and metastasis. As a result of these findings, OPN has been described as a potential marker for tumor progression in some malignancies. In this study, we investigated the expression of OPN in vulvar tissue specimens and compared its expression between different histopathological grades.
In the present study, the expression patterns of OPN in 80 paraffin-embedded tissue specimens, including 25 VSCC samples, 21 VIN lesions and 21 VLS, in addition to 13 normal vulvar samples, were examined by the immunohistochemical method and chromogenic in situ hybridization.
The intensity of OPN expression steadily increased according to the pathological grades. In addition, OPN staining was found in the extracellular matrix in VSCC.
Expression levels of OPN increased from VLS and VIN to VSCC, and steadily increased with the pathological stage of VSCC. Our results suggest that OPN may be associated with the progression of VSCC.
外阴鳞状细胞癌（VSCC）约占所有妇科癌症的 3-5%。外阴上皮内瘤变（VIN）和外阴硬化性苔藓（VLS）被认为是癌前病变。早期发现和治疗癌前病变可能会预防 VSCC 的发生。骨桥蛋白（OPN）已被证明通过促进癌细胞侵袭和转移参与许多生理和病理过程，如肿瘤进展。基于这些发现，OPN 已被描述为某些恶性肿瘤肿瘤进展的潜在标志物。在这项研究中，我们研究了 OPN 在外阴组织标本中的表达，并比较了其在不同组织病理学分级之间的表达。
在本研究中，通过免疫组织化学和显色原位杂交方法检测了 80 例石蜡包埋组织标本（包括 25 例 VSCC 标本、21 例 VIN 病变和 21 例 VLS 以及 13 例正常外阴标本）中 OPN 的表达模式。
OPN 的表达强度根据病理分级逐渐增加。此外，在 VSCC 中发现了 OPN 染色存在于细胞外基质中。
OPN 的表达水平从 VLS 和 VIN 到 VSCC 逐渐增加，并随着 VSCC 的病理阶段稳步增加。我们的结果表明 OPN 可能与 VSCC 的进展有关。
