Expression of Proliferative Cell Nuclear Antigen in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Cervix

Objective To study the activity of proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in normal cervical squamous cells and cervical carcinoma cells and to eveluate the relationship between PCNA expression and the biological behavior of cervical squamous cell cancer. Methods The expression of PCNA in 58 cases of cervical squamous cell carcinoma,5 atypical cervical dysplasia and 8 samples of normal cervix were studied by immunohistochemical techniques. Results Strong positive staining rate in cervical squamous cell carcinoma was 44.2%,significantly higher than that of the normal cervix(0%) (P0.05).The immunoprecipitiation product of PCNA was located in nucleus, whereas distribution of positive cells in cervical squamous cell cancer was uneven.On the periphery of cancer nest and the frontier of invasive tumor,the positive staining rate was high.Serious hyperplasia in regions adjacent to cancers was shown by positive lymphocytes and lymphofollicles in poorly differentiated cancers.In atypical cervical dysplasia,positive cells were mainly distributed in basal layer and partly in prickle cell layer;while in normal cervix they were limited in basal layer.Strong positive expression of PCNA increased with the aggravation of pathological stage in cancers(P 0.05 ).Strong positive expression rate of PCNA was higher in advanced cancer,but the differences were not statistically significant (P0.05). Conclusion PCNA is one of the important criteria reflecting biological behavior of the cervical squamous carcinoma.