Expression and correlation analysis of STING and related immuno-suppressive factors in cervical cancer

TIAN Pu; LUO Yuli; WANG Qian; LANG Lin; JIA Ying

doi:10.13431/j.cnki.immunol.j.20180121

Abstract：This research aims to observe the expression of the stimulator of IFN genes (STING) and its relative immunosuppressive factors, CCL22, IDO, IL-10, in high risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) positive cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) and precancerous lesions, and explore the effect of STING on the regulation of CSCC tumor microenvironment and the progression of tumor. 58 specimens of cervical tissue were collected, 20 cases of normal cervical tissue were used as control group, 9 cases of HR-HPV positive cervical intraepithelial neoplasia Ⅲ (CIN Ⅲ) and 9 cases of CIN Ⅱ as precancerous lesion group, and 20 cases of CSCC as CSCC group. The expression of STING protein in cervical tissues was detected by Western blot and the expression of STING, CCL22, IDO and IL-10 mRNA in cervical tissues was detected by q RT-PCR. As a result, the expression of STING protein in cervical lesions was significantly higher than it in normal cervical tissue (P＜0.05), and its expression in normal cervix, CINⅡ-Ⅲ and CSCC increased gradually. The expression of STING, CCL22, IDO and IL-10 mRNA in cervical lesions was significantly higher than that in normal cervix (P＜0.05), and the expression level increased with the progression of lesions. In cervical lesions, the expression of STING mRNA was positively correlated with CCL22 mRNA and IDO mRNA, and had no significant correlation with IL-10 mRNA. In conclusion, the up-regulated expression of STING may increase the release of CCL22 and IDO and aggravate the imbalance of local immunization in the tumor microenvironment, thus participating in the process of HR-HPV carcinogenesis.