Expression and clinical significance of c-myc and p53 protein in cervical carcinoma tissues

Objective To investigate the expression of c-myc and p53 protein in cervical carcinoma tissues and their clinical significance. Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of c-myc and p53 protein in 6 normal cervical tissues and 19 cervical squamous carcinoma tissues and 26 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)tissues. The apoptosis amount was detected by TUNEL. Results The expression of c-myc and p53 protein showed an increasing tendency from 6 normal cervical tissues to 26 CIN tissues, then to 19 cervical squamous carcinoma tissues. The TUNEL-positive cells in those carcinoma tissues were significantly lower than that of the normal tissues (P0.01). Conclusion Apoptosis takes part in genesis of cervical carcinoma and the overexpression of c-myc and p53 protein plays an important role in the development and malignant changes of cervical carcinoma.