eIF4E as a marker for cervical neoplasia

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) is upregulated in cancers of the breast and head and neck. The authors have shown that eIF4E is increased in cervical neoplasia and that eIF4E upregulates human papillomavirus (HPV) oncoprotein E7. The aim of this study was to quantitate eIF4E in tissues representing a wide range of cervical pathology. The potential correlation between dysplastic grade or tumor stage with eIF4E upregulation and/or HPV genotype was analyzed for 10 normal, 27 cancer, and 37 dysplasia cases. A progressive increase in eIF4E staining intensity was found with increasing cervical pathology (P < 0.0001). No difference was seen in eIF4E stain intensity by either tumor type--squamous cell cancer (n = 18), adenocarcinoma (n = 4), or other types of cancer (n = 5) (P = 0.97)--or by tumor grade--II (n = 5) versus III (n = 7). Likewise, neither an HPV typing result of HPV 16 (n = 10) versus non-HPV 16 (n = 4) nor single HPV infection (n = 11) versus dual HPV infection (n = 3) significantly altered the eIF4E stain results (P = 0.86 and 0.97, respectively). These results indicate that eIF4E stain intensity may be useful as a marker for cervical neoplasia.