European Journal of Gynaecological Oncology (EJGO) is published by IMR Press from Volume 40 Issue 1 (2019). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.
Fascin, an actin-bundling protein expression in cervical neoplasms
Purpose of investigation: Our objectives were (1) to examine expression of fascin in cervical tissues with chronic inflammation, intraepithelial neoplasms and invasive carcinomas, and (2) to investigate the role of fascin on endothelial migration and angiogenesis in cervical neoplasms. Methods: In this study we investigated by means of immunohistochemistry fascin expression in 92 cervical biopsy samples representative of chronic inflammation (n= 13), squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs, n = 33) and invasive carcinomas (n = 46). Results: Various degrees of fascin expression were observed in 94% of the samples of SILs, in 67% of the samples of invasive cervical carcinoma and in 69% of the samples of chronic inflammation. Total epithelial fascin scores of samples were significantly higher in high-grade (H)SILs compared to low-grade (L)SILs, invasive carcinoma and chronic inflammation of the cervix (p < 0.05) Mean microvessel count was 55.00 ± 5.17 in HSILs, 40.76 ± 3.57 in LSILs, 37.11 ± 2.91 in carcinoma and 25.69 ± 3.98 in chronic inflammation. We found a significantly higher microvessel count in HSILs compared to invasive carcinoma and chronic inflammation (respectively, p =.004, p =.000). Conclusion: Epithelial fascin expression up-regulated when the malignant tumor cell phenotype had occurred in the cervix. Similarly, microvessel count increased with the beginning of cervical tumorigenesis.