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Vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression is not a prognostic factor in cervical cancer
Michael Friedrich1, Roland Meyberg, Roland Axt-Fliedner
1Department of Gynecology, University Hospital of Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Germany. friedrichmichael@hotmail.com
Background:
The aim of this study was to analyze whether VDR status is a prognostic factor that may be of importance for the assessment of recurrence in cervical cancer.
Materials And Methods:
VDR-, Ki-67- and p53-status were analyzed immunohistochemically in cervical cancer patients (n=50) and in benign cervical tissue (n=15). The histopathological data of the tumours were evaluated. RNA was extracted from normal cervical tissue (n=4) and cervical carcinomas (n=8) using the method of Chomczynski. RNA was reverse-transcribed and RNA-levels were semiquantitatively detected by PCR.
Results:
The expression of VDR was significantly increased in cervical cancer compared to normal cervical tissue on the protein-level but not on the RNA-level. No statistically significant correlations were found comparing VDR status with histopathological data (tumour stage, lymph node status, grading, histological tumour type), with the expression of the proliferation marker Ki-67 and of the tumour suppressor gene p53.
Conclusion:
Our findings indicate that VDR protein expression is not a prognostic factor in cervical cancer. The strong I/DR immunoreactivity that we observed in cervical cancer specimens supports the body of evidence that cervical cancer may be a target for therapeutically applied vitamin D analogues.