Sano T, Oyama T, Kashiwabara K, Fukuda T, Nakajima T
Second Department of Pathology, Gunma University School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
Pathol Int. 1998 Aug;48(8):580-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1827.1998.tb03954.x.
Both p16 and retinoblastoma (Rb) proteins are important tumor suppressors that regulate the cell cycle. The status of both proteins in invasive cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) has not yet been examined. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of p16 and Rb proteins by immunohistochemistry using 98 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded samples of various cervical neoplastic lesions. Strong immunoreactivity for the p16 protein was observed in both the nuclei and cytoplasm of all CIN and invasive cancer cases except several low-grade CIN lesions. Expression of Rb protein was also demonstrated in the scattered nuclei of neoplastic and normal cells in all cases investigated. The results suggest that the deletion or mutational inactivity of both p16 and Rb proteins may be a rare event in cervical carcinogenesis. Moreover, overexpression of the p16 protein may be a useful diagnostic marker for cervical neoplastic lesions on routine laboratory screening.
p16和视网膜母细胞瘤（Rb）蛋白都是调节细胞周期的重要肿瘤抑制因子。这两种蛋白在浸润性宫颈癌和宫颈上皮内瘤变（CIN）中的状态尚未得到研究。本研究的目的是使用98份各种宫颈肿瘤性病变的福尔马林固定石蜡包埋样本，通过免疫组织化学法研究p16和Rb蛋白的表达。除了几例低级别CIN病变外，在所有CIN和浸润性癌病例的细胞核和细胞质中均观察到p16蛋白的强免疫反应性。在所研究的所有病例中，肿瘤细胞和正常细胞的散在细胞核中也显示出Rb蛋白的表达。结果表明，p16和Rb蛋白的缺失或突变失活在宫颈癌发生过程中可能是罕见事件。此外，p16蛋白的过表达可能是常规实验室筛查中宫颈肿瘤性病变的有用诊断标志物。
