Glycodelin-A expression in the uterine cervix

Local immunosuppressive factors in the uterine cervix infected by human papillomavirus are felt to facilitate the malignant transformation process. Glycodelin-A is an immunosuppressive peptide found in several tissues of müllerian origin, most notably the pregnant and decidualized endometrium. Its expression in the uterine cervix has not been defined but could theoretically contribute to the immunopermissive environment of the cervix. To determine whether glycodelin-A is found in the cervix we examined the squamous and endocervical epithelia from both normal and neoplastic cervical specimens from 14 women.

Immunohistochemisty identification of glycodelin-A was performed on archival paraffin-embedded sections from 10 hysterectomies and 4 cone biopsies. Sections were evaluated and staining was scored as negative, positive, or strongly positive with a separate score for the squamous and glandular components of the cervix.

Eleven of 14 cases, 79%, demonstrated positive staining of the squamous epithelium. Glycodelin-positive cases included hisologically normal (n = 4; 3 strongly positive, 1 positive) as well as dysplastic (n = 5; 1 strongly positive, 2 positive, and 2 negative) and malignant squamous cells (n = 5; 1 strongly positive, 3 positive, and 1 negative). Normal glandular epithelia were negative in all cases but 1, which demonstrated significant squamous and tubal metaplasia of the endocervical glands involved.

Glycodelin-A is found in the squamous epithelium of both the histologically normal and the neoplastic cervix. Further characterization of these results will focus on the possible immunosuppressive effect glycodelin-A may have in the cervix.