Relationship between expression of Ezrin protein and regional invasion, metastasis and prognosis in cervical squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To examine relationship between expression of Ezrin and invasion, metastasis and prognosis in cervical squamous cell carcinoma. Methods The expression of Ezrin, proliferation index (PI) of cancer cells labeled by Ki-67 and micro-vascular density (MVD) labeled by CD34 in 28 cases of normal cervical epithelium(NCE), 36 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasm(CIN) and 68 cases of squamous carcinoma of cervix(SCC) were detected by immunohistochemistry SP method. Results The positive expression of Ezrin protein increased remarkably from NCE to CIN and then to SCC accordingly (P 0.05). In cases with FIGO staging Ⅱ, pelvic lymph node metastasis, deeper stroma involvement and intravascular infiltration, the expression of Ezrin was significantly higher than that in those without the conditions mentioned above (P 0.05). The patients with higher expression of Ezrin protein in SCC had lower survival rate than that in those without the conditions mentioned above, but the difference was not significant (P=0.0631). Conclusions Ezrin protein may play an important role during the cancer invasion and metastasis, and may be a valuable marker in prognosis in cervical squamous cell carcinoma. Key words: cervical neoplasm/pathology; Ezrin protein; tumor metastasis; immunohistochemistry