Expression of erythropoietin/erythropoietin-receptor and microvessel density changes in cervical squamous cell carcinoma

HU Xianglin; ZHOU Tiejun

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-266X.2016.35.016

Abstract：Objective To observe the expression of erythropoietin ( EPO )/erythropoietin-receptor ( EPO-R ) and measure microvessel density ( MVD) in cervical squamous cell carcinoma and to investigate the relationships of them with clinicopathological parameters.Methods Seventy-six cases of patients with cervical squamous cell carcinoma ( observation group) , 25 cases of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion ( HSIL group) , 20 cases of low-grade squamous intraepithe-lial lesion ( LSIL group) and 20 cases of normal cervical epithelia ( normal group) were collected.Immunohistochemical SP method was performed to detect the expression of EPO/EPO-R and CD31 expression and then we measured MVD in these specimens.The expression differences of EPO/EPO-R and MVD in these specimens were compared.In the observation group, correlations of EPO/EPO-R and MVD with patients'clinicopathological parameters such as age, tumor size, histo-logical grading, FIGO staging, lymphovascular invasion and lymph node metastasis were analyzed, and correlations of EPO/EPO-R expression with MVD were also analyzed in cervical squamous cell carcinoma.Results The positive expres-sion rates of EPO in the observation group, HSIL group, LSIL group and normal group were 76.32%, 52.00%, 25.00%and 10.00%, respectively;the positive expression rates of EPO-R were 82.89%, 60.00%, 30.00% and 15.00%, re-spectively.The positive expression rates of EPO and EPO-R were gradually increased from normal cervix to LSIL to HSIL and then to cervical squamous cell carcinoma, and the difference was statistically significant (all P<0.05). The MVD of the observation group, HSIL group, LSIL group and normal group was (45.46 ±5.62), (25.64 ±3.80), (12.35 ± 2.70) and (6.90 ±1.62)/5HP, and significant difference was found among these groups (all P<0.05).In the observation group, EPO and EPO-R expression was not significantly correlated with age, tumor size, histological grading, FIGO staging, lymphovascular invasion and lymph node metastasis (all P<0.05).MVD was significantly correlated with tumor size, histologi-cal differentiation, lymphovascular invasion and lymph node metastasis (all P<0.05).In the observation group, MVD was posi-tively correlated with EPO expression (r=0.623, all P<0.05) as well as EPO-R expression (r=0.575, P<0.05).Conclu-sions EPO/EPO-R expression and MDV increase in the cervical squamous cell carcinoma tissues, and EPO and EPO-R may promote the progression of cervical squamous cell carcinoma by enhancing the cervical angiogenesis.