RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the expression of Skp2 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and its precancerous lesions, and to investigate its relationship with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expression of Skp2 protein and HPV16/18 DNA was determined using immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridization in 30 cases of normal cervical squamous epithelium, 29 cases of low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia, 31 cases of high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia and 31 cases of cervical SCC.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Skp2 expression was not detected in normal cervical squamous epithelium and no significant difference was obtained statistically on Skp2 expression between normal cervical squamous epithelium and low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (P > 0.05). However, the expression of Skp2 gradually increased with elevation of epithelial lesion grading in an order from low to high grade and to cervical SCC (P < 0.01). The positive rate of HPV16/18 DNA in cases of normal cervical squamous epithelium, low-grade, high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical SCC was significantly different (P < 0.01), although both high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical SCC had a similar high HPV infection rate up to 96.8%. There was no correlation obtained between Skp2 expression and HPV16/18 infection in low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia. In contrast, expression of Skp2 and HPV infection were significantly correlated in both high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical SCC (gammaH = 0.373, gammaC = 0.416, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Abnormal expression of Skp2 is present mainly in high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive carcinoma, which may be considered as a surrogate marker for the high-grade lesions. Skp2 may play a key role in the development of cervical squamous carcinoma induced by HPV16/18 infection, through E7-Skp2-Rb signaling pathway.</p>
