ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the role of survivin, caspase 3, p53 and Ki-67 expression in the carcinogenesis of cervical carcinoma and aggressiveness of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). METHODS: The pathology specimens of 94 patients with a diagnosis of Low grade CIN (31 cases), High grade CINL (32 cases) and squamous cell carcinoma (31 cases) were evaluated immunohistochemically for the expression of survivin, caspase 3, p53 and Ki-67 in paraffin sections. RESULTS: Survivin, p53 and Ki-67 expressions were progressively increased in accordance with the increasing degree of malignancy, but caspase 3 immunoreactivity was higher in high grade CIN than in low grade CIN and invasive cervical cancers. There was no significant difference between Ki-67 index and survivin, caspase 3 and p53 expression with the increasing degree of malignancy. The Ki-67 index was closely related to p53 overexpression in invasive cervical carcinoma group. CONCLUSION: A sequential increase of survivin, p53, and Ki-67 was observed in paralleling the progression of grade of CIN and cervical cancer. In addition, caspase 3 expression increased proportionally to the low-grade CIN to high grade CIN.