Abstract
Accumulated evidence has shown that endocan, which was originally called endothelial cell-specific molecule-1, is an attractive prognostic factor in a variety of cancers. However, the relevance of endocan expression in human malignancies remains to be clarified. In the present study, the expression of endocan in cervical squamous neoplasia of the uterus, including low- and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL and HSIL, respectively), as well as in invasive squamous cell carcinoma was examined by immunohistochemistry. Endocan was not sufficiently expressed in the normal cervical epithelium. Endocan expression was present in LSIL cases but was limited to basal and parabasal areas of the cells. HSIL cases exhibited strong expression of endocan with widely distributed expression toward the epithelial surface. In contrast, further strong expression of endocan was not observed in patients with invasive carcinoma. This study is the first study showing increased expression of endocan in precancerous dysplastic lesions and malignancy of the cervix. The data suggest that a high expression level of endocan potentially contributes to the development of cervical squamous neoplasia of the uterus.
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The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
Certain parts of this study were included in the Japanese language PhD thesis of the authors MS and AI at Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine.
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No specific funding was received. This study was supported in part by education and research funds of Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine.
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MS, AI, and MO substantially contributed to the conception and design of this study. MS, AI, AT, KT, DK, and KM performed histological examination of the cervical neoplasia and performed immunohistochemistry. MS, AI, and MO confirmed the authenticity of all of the raw data obtained. MS and AI were major contributors to data analysis and interpretation of the data. MS and MO contributed to manuscript drafting and critical revisions on the intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The present study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee (approval no. 4-1-44) and Institutional Review Board (study no. 312-230) of Sapporo Medical University. The Ethics Committee waived the requirement to obtain written informed consent from the patients for the use of human tissues owing to the retrospective nature of the study. The research was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The researchers involved in this study had no access to information that could identify individual participants during or after data collection.
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Sato, M., Inoue, A., Takasawa, A. et al. Elevated expression of endocan in the development of cervical squamous neoplasia of the uterus. Med Mol Morphol 56, 187–193 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00795-023-00353-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00795-023-00353-0