Antígeno nuclear de proliferación celular en cáncer de cuello uterino y lesiones precursoras / Nuclear antigen of cellular proliferation in uterine cervix cancer and precursor lesions

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to study the degree of cellular proliferation quantifying the immunohistochemical expression of the proliferating cell nuclear antigen. We assessed paraffin embedded samples od 25 infiltrating epidermoid cervical carcinomas, 76 precursor lesions (34 of low and 42 of high grade), 29 normal and 13 metaplastic epidermoid epithelia. Mean values of proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression were 13.7 percent in normal epithelia, 15.7 percent in epidermoid metaplasia, 37.1 percent in low grade precursor lesions (35.3 percent in condilomas and 38.8 percent in mild dysplasia), 48.7 percent in high grade lesions (47.9 percent in moderate dysplasia, 50.5 percent in severe dysplasia and 50 percent in carcinoma in situ) and 54.7 percent in infiltrating carcinoma. There were differences in proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression and mitotic index between low grade precursor lesions and high grade lesions and infiltrating carcinoma. No correlation was observed between mitotic index and proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression. We conclude that infiltrating epidermoid cervical carcinoma and its precursor lesions have a high level of proliferative activity, demonstrated by a high percentage of cells in active phases of the cellular cycle