Transcript levels of ten-eleven translocation type 1-3 in cervical cancer and non-cancerous cervical tissues.

Decreased expression of ten-eleven translocation (TET1, TET2 and TET3) proteins has been reported in various types of cancer. However, the expression levels of TET proteins in cervical cancer (CC) remain to be elucidated. The present study determined the levels of TET1, TET2 and TET3 transcripts in cancerous (n=80) and non-cancerous cervical tissues (n=41). The results revealed a significant reduction in TET1 transcripts (P=0.0000001) in cervical tissue samples from patients with primary CC compared with samples from control patients. Significantly decreased TET1 transcript levels, as compared to non-cancerous cervical tissues, were also observed in tissue samples with the following characteristics: Stage I (P=0.016), II (P<0.0001), III (P=0.00007) and grade of differentiation G1 (P=0.026), G2 (P=0.00006), G3 (P=0.0007) and Gx (P=0.0004) and squamous histological type (P<0.00001). TET1 transcript levels were significantly lower in patients aged 45-60 years (P=0.0002) and patients age >60 years (P=0.003), as compared with non-cancerous cervical tissues. TET2 transcript levels were lower in cervical cancer tissues classified as stage II (P=0.043) and TET3 transcript levels were lower in stage III samples (P=0.010), tissue samples with a grade of differentiation of G3 (P=0.025) and tissue with squamous type histology (P=0.047), all compared with non-cancerous cervical tissues. The present study demonstrated a significantly reduced level of TET1 transcripts in cancerous cervical tissues, as compared with non-cancerous tissues. Furthermore, decreased TET1-3 transcript levels were identified when patients with CC were stratified by clinicopathological variables, as compared with non-cancerous cervical tissues.

The role and impact of estrogens and xenoestrogen on the development of cervical cancer.

Throughout an individual's lifetime, the human body is exposed to many different chemical compounds, including xenoestrogens (XEs) that can be found in the environment, food, air, cosmetics and other substances, which have a positive or negative impact on their health and lifestyle. Whereas high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) is necessary but not sufficient for full malignant cervical cell transformation, other compounds such as estrogens and XEs may be risk factors for cervical cancer (CC) development. The causes and effects of some diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic or immune system disorders are partly due to signaling pathways in response to estrogens. XEs are a vast group of natural and synthetic compounds, behaving like estrogens, that have been studied over the recent years and which may interact with estrogen receptors. The major problem with XEs is the difficulty in studying the mechanism of such complex substances as well as investigating the influences of some of the compounds (dose-dependent) over time. The impact of XEs on CC is variable, with no direct comparison between in vitro studies and in vivo XEs action.