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Immunohistochemical expression of ubiquitin and telomerase in cervical cancer

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Abstract

Ubiquitin and telomerase immunohistochemical expression patterns in cervical cancer were compared with normal cervical tissue samples. Eighty-one cervical cancer cases and 22 normal exo–endocervical tissue were examined with polyclonal antibody for ubiquitin and 44G12 clone for telomerase using tissue microarrays. The results were interpreted using a semiquantitative scale The average age of patients was 50.67 years. The most frequent histological types were moderately differentiated epidermoid carcinoma (43.5%), according to the degree of differentiation, and endocervical adenocarcinoma (42.1%). Immunohistochemical findings were as follows: 98.7% of cervical cancers showed immunoexpression for ubiquitin and 52.6% for telomerase. Statistically significant differences were found in tumor immunoreactivity when compared with control tissue (p < 0.0007) for both biomarkers. There was no significant difference in biomarker expression at different histological types of tumors, although telomerase was less expressed in endocervical adenocarcinoma. Our findings confirm that abnormal immunoexpression pattern of ubiquitin and telomerase is common in HPV-positive cervical cancer, indicating the existence of an intense degradation of proteins, subsequent cellular immortalization and maintenance of the malignant phenotype.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Alejo Sempere and Laura Martínez from the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Valencia, for their invaluable support and training immunohistochemical technicians.

Conflict of interest statement

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exfoliative Cytology, Faculty of Pharmaceutics and Analytical Biosciences, University of Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela

    Toro de Méndez Morelva

  2. Departament of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Llombart Bosch Antonio

  3. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioanálisis, Universidad de Los Andes, Sector Campo de Oro, 5101, Mérida, Venezuela

    Toro de Méndez Morelva

  4. Facultad de Medicina y Odontología, Universidad de Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 17, 46010, Valencia, España

    Llombart Bosch Antonio

Authors
  1. Toro de Méndez Morelva
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  2. Llombart Bosch Antonio
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Toro de Méndez Morelva or Llombart Bosch Antonio.

Additional information

This study was carried out with support from the AECC (Junta Provincial) and Fundación Instituto Valenciano de Oncología (FIVO), Valencia, Spain.

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de Méndez Morelva, T., Antonio, L.B. Immunohistochemical expression of ubiquitin and telomerase in cervical cancer. Virchows Arch 455, 235–243 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-009-0818-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-009-0818-7

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