Expression and Significance of IL-17 in Patient Tissues with Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia

To investigate the expression of IL-17 and its significance in cervical intraepithelial neoplasias(CIN1,CIN2,and CIN3).Using immunohistochemical S-P method,the expression of IL-17 was analyzed in 90 paraffin-embedded CIN tissue specimens(30 cases each of CIN1,CIN2 and CIN3)and 30 control tissues of the cervix.Immunohistochemistry analysis showed that IL-17 expressed mainly in the cytoplasm of cervical squamous cells with CIN lesions.The positive rate of IL-17 expression(++ or higher) showed a hierarchy corresponding to CIN lesions,i.e.,the lowest positive rate for CIN1(2/30 cases or 6.7%),the highest positive rate for CIN3(27/30 cases or 90%),and the moderate positive rate for CIN2(19/30 cases or 63.3%),respectively.There was only one positive case(1/30 cases or 3.3%)in the cervix control group.These differences in positive rates were statistically significant(P0.05).The expression of IL-17 correlates with CIN grading,suggesting that IL-17 may play a role in promoting the pathogenesis and/or progression of CIN lesions.