Discovery of microarray-identified genes associated with the progression of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

To identify genes potentially associated with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) progression through bioinformatic approaches and clinicopathological verification.

mRNA expression microarray data related to CIN progression were screened from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and re-analyzed using bioinformatics approaches. Tissue microarray immunohistochemistry was conducted to assess the significant identified genes in CIN, cervical cancer, and normal tissues.

Biological annotation and text mining showed that 14 differentially expressed genes were directly or indirectly related to CIN progression. The expression of 5 up-regulated differentially expressed genes, namely, CCND2, TGFBR2, PRKCB, SH3KBP1 and WNT2B, was examined by tissue microarray immunohistochemistry, with the known CIN progression genes P16 and Ki-67 as the internal reference. Expression of TGFBR2, SH3KBP1, and WNT2B were not detected in CIN and cervical carcinoma, whereas no significant difference in the expression rate of PRKCB was detected (P > 0.05). CCND2, P16, and Ki-67 expression showed a gradual increasing trend in normal, CIN, and cervical cancer.

14 differentially expressed genes were associated with CIN progression, as indicated by the microarray data analysis results. CCND2 may be a new marker for the prediction of CIN progression in addition to P16 and Ki-67.