Determination of estrogen, progesterone receptor and ki-67 immunoreactivity in early stage cervical carcinoma: Association with human papillomavirus infection and prognosis.

Abstract

Introduction: The predictive values of estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) status and cell proliferation kinetics in cervical carcinomas are still unsettled. The purpose of this study was to clarify the associations among ER/PgR status and Ki-67 expression and to determine their relationship to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, recurrence rate and other clinicopathologic parameters (age, tumor diameter, depth of invasion, histotype, grade, vascular involvement, inflammatory infiltrate, lymph node status) in early stage cervical carcinomas. Materials and methods: ER, PgR and Ki-67 immunostaining was performed in 72 cervical carcinoma radical hysterectomy specimens (pT1b1/pT1b2). ER/PgR staining was scored in a semiquantitative fashion, while to evaluate the cell proliferation, the Ki-67 labelling index (LI) was assessed in the surface area, center and invasion front of each tumor. HPV status was determined by CARD in situ hybridization. Results and conclusion: ER positivity was detected in 11 (15%), while PgR positivity in 14 (20%) carcinomas. ER/PgR values were in correlation with Ki-67 LI in all three tumors' compartments (p<0.01). In contrast to ER/PgR status, Ki-67 LI was strongly associated with HPV infection (p<0.01). No relationship was found between PgR or Ki-67 immunoreactivity and either recurrence rate or any other clinicopathological variable investigated. Nevertheless, reduced ER expression was significantly associated with larger tumor diameter (p=0.04) and poor differentiation (p=0.03), as well as lymphovascular involvement (p=0.04) and lymph node metastases (p=0.02). These results suggest that ER, PgR and Ki-67 expression are closely related to neoplastic cell proliferation, probably induced by HPV infection. Their determination may provide additional prognostic information in early stage cervical carcinomas.