Abstract
Tumor protein p73 (TP73) has been reported to be dysregulated in various types of human cancer and associated with clinical progression and outcome. Owing to the lack of reports on the correlation between TP73 protein expression and clinicopathologic features of cervical cancer, the aim of our research was to explore the clinical and prognostic significance of TP73 protein expression in cervical cancer patients. In our study, TP73 protein expression was detected by immunochemistry in 118 paraffin-embedded cervical cancer tissue specimens and 40 paraffin-embedded normal cervical epithelium tissue specimens. In the results, we found cervical cancer tissues exhibited high TP73 expression in comparison with normal cervical epithelium tissues, which was consistent with the expression status of TP73 in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Furthermore, we analyzed the relationships between TP73 expression and clinicopathologic features through using the chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test, and found high expression of TP73 was markedly associated with early clinical stage, less lymph node metastasis, absent distant metastasis, squamous cell carcinoma and favorable histological grade. The Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank test were performed based on the expression level of TP73 in a cervical cancer cohort from the TCGA database, and showed that TP73 expression was positively correlated with overall survival time in cervical cancer patients. Moreover, univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model indicated that high TP73 expression was identified as an independent factor for predicting favorable overall survival in cervical cancer patients. In conclusion, TP73 expression is increased in cervical cancer tissues and cells, and acts as a credible biomarker for predicting favorable overall survival in cervical cancer patients.
Highlights
Cervical cancer is the second common gynecological tumor worldwide with an estimated 569847 newly diagnosed cases in 2018 [1]
In the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, the Tumor protein p73 (TP73) expression was obviously up-regulated in cervical cancer tissues compared with normal cervical epithelium tissues (P
The statistical result suggested that there was significant difference in TP73 expression between cervical cancer tissues compared with normal cervical epithelium tissues (P
Summary
Cervical cancer is the second common gynecological tumor worldwide with an estimated 569847 newly diagnosed cases in 2018 [1]. Despite the fact that cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates reportedly have declined in most countries, it remained the fourth leading cause of deaths among women worldwide accounting for over 300000 deaths in 2018 [1]. The decreasing incidence and mortality of cervical cancer is mainly attributed to introduction of vaccines and improvement of disease screening [2,3]. There is still lack of novel treatment for cervical cancer patients. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are still the major treatment strategies [4]. More novel potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets should be identified for improving the prognosis of cervical cancer patients
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
