Increase of Mcm3 and Mcm4 expression in cervical squamous cell carcinomas.

PURPOSE: To examine the relevance of expression of two proteins essential for DNA replication initiation, Mcm3 and Mcm4, in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). METHODS: 53 cases of cervical squamous cell carcinoma, 35 cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN) grade 2-3, 11 CIN I and 26 normal controls were studied. Immunohistochemistry was performed with anti-Mcm3 and anti-Mcm4 antibodies. RESULTS: We found Mcm3 and Mcm4 protein expression had a tendency to be stronger from control to CSCC. Both Mcm3 and Mcm4 were significantly upregulated in squamous cervical carcinoma compared to the control, CIN grade 1 and grade 2-3 (p < 0.001), and Mcm3 expression was correlated with CSCC cell differentiation. However there were no independent prognosis correlations between Mcm3 and Mcm4 and clinicopathological parameters including age, stage, tumor size, invasive depth and lymph node metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: Mcm3 and Mcm4 were highly expressed in CSCC, and these two proteins might be useful as biomolecular markers in clinical diagnosis.