Originally published as JHC exPRESS on August 21, 2006. doi:10.1369/jhc.6A6921.2006
Volume 54 (12): 1393-1399, 2006 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. CEACAM1 in Cervical Cancer and Precursor Lesions: Association With Human Papillomavirus Infection
Departamento de Fisiología, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico (BA-S,VD-R,LA-J,AD-N); Servicio de Patología, OPD Hospital Civil de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico (RF-T,FC-C); and Molecular Immunopathology Unit DCEXS, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain (ML-B) Correspondence to: Adrian Daneri-Navarro, Departamento de Fisiología, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Guadalajara, Apartado Postal 2-236, 44281 Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. E-mail: daneri{at}cucs.udg.mx
Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) is an adhesion molecule expressed in a wide variety of tissues including epithelial cells, leukocytes, and tumors that may establish both homotypic and heterotypic interactions. The aim of this work was to study the protein expression pattern of CEACAM1 in cervical cancer and precursor lesions in the context of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. We used immunohistochemistry to analyze CEACAM1 expression in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded cervical tissues from 15 healthy women, 15 patients with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL), 15 patients with high-grade SIL, and 15 patients with squamous carcinomas. HPV types were identified by PCR. CEACAM1 was either undetectable (13/15) or low (2/15) in normal cervical tissues. By contrast, CEACAM1 expression was increased in high-grade SIL (10 samples staining intermediate/high and 4 samples staining low) as compared with low-grade SIL with undetectable (n=3) or low (n=12) expression. CEACAM1 expression was undetectable or low in cervical carcinoma. Our results suggest that CEACAM1 may be an interesting progression marker in SIL and cervical cancer, in particular due to reported immunoregulatory properties. (J Histochem Cytochem 54:13931399, 2006)
Key Words: carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 cell adhesion squamous intraepithelial lesions cervical cancer human papillomavirus
CERVICAL CANCER is the second most common malignant tumor in women worldwide, with 80% of cases arising in developing countries. Infection with oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) types is necessary but not sufficient to cause cervical cancer. Other risk factors include smoking, genetic factors, and immune system dysfunction (Schiffman and Castle 2003
Downregulation of CEACAM1 was reported in many malignant tumors such as breast, colon, endometrium, prostate, and hepatocellular carcinomas, suggesting that CEACAM1 may function as a tumor suppressor protein, maintaining the normal phenotype of epithelial cells (Phan et al. 2004
Tissue Samples Tissue samples were obtained from the Pathology Department of the OPD Hospital Civil de Guadalajara, Guadalajara,Mexico. The study included formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens from 15 invasive squamous cervical carcinomas (large-cell keratinizing and non-keratinizing types), 15 high-grade SIL, 15 low-grade SIL, and 15 normal cervical tissues. Mean age of subjects ranged from 37 to 45 years (low-grade SIL subjects being the youngest and cervical cancer patients the oldest). Difference between groups was not significant. High parity was more frequent in patients with cervical cancer. There was no significant difference between groups with respect to socioeconomic status, smoking habit, or other clinical history. Two different pathologists (FTR and CCF) independently confirmed the diagnosis for all specimens. The protocol was approved by the Biomedicine Sciences Committee according to the guidelines of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (amended by the 52nd WMA General Assembly, Edinburgh, Scotland, October 2000).
Immunohistochemical (IHC) Staining
Evaluation of IHC Staining CEACAM1 Expression
DNA Extraction
PCR Assay
Statistical Analysis Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS software package (version 10.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Measures of central tendency and dispersion were determined. For CEACAM1 expression and HPV infection, 2 test was used to evaluate homogeneity. CEACAM1 expression in normal cervical tissue, low-grade SIL, high-grade SIL, and cervical cancer were compared with ANOVA and MannWhitney U test. We also performed a two-factor ANOVA using CEACAM1 expression as dependent variable, considering study groups and high-risk HPV infection as factors. Spearman rank correlation method was used to correlate CEACAM1 expression and HPV infection (low- and high-risk HPV). Results were expressed as r value together with significance level. Differences were considered significant at p<0.05.
IHC analysis showed that CEACAM1 protein was not expressed or scantly expressed in squamous epithelial cells from normal cervical tissues. We only detected CEACAM1 protein in 2/15 normal cervical samples. In both positive samples, CEACAM1 expression was very low (5% and 10%, respectively) and restricted to superficial epithelial layers with a membranous staining pattern. We studied 30 SIL classified into two groups according to the Bethesda System: low-grade (15) and high-grade SIL (15). Of 15 low-grade SIL, three were negative for CEACAM1 expression. Of the remaining 12 low-grade SIL, all were low positive (staining ranged from 3% to 30%). Pattern of CEACAM1 expression was membranous and restricted to superficial layers. In contrast, 10/15 high-grade intraepithelial lesions displayed intermediate- to high-positive CEACAM1 expression (staining ranged from 33% to 76%), and four showed low expression (staining ranged from 5% to 25%). Only one high-grade SIL was negative for CEACAM1. In high-grade intraepithelial lesions, both cytoplasmic and membranous staining were observed through all epithelial layers. Of 15 invasive cervical carcinomas, 2 tissues were negative and 13 were low positive to CEACAM1. The vast majority of CEACAM1-positive tumor samples showed staining from 3% to 10% (11/13 samples), and in all cases positivity was restricted to keratin pearls or well-differentiated tumors (membranous staining). Statistical analysis with ANOVA and MannWhitney U test showed that CEACAM1 expression was significantly elevated in high-grade SIL in comparison with normal cervical specimens (p<0.0001 and p=0.000043, respectively), low-grade SIL (p<0.001 and p=0.0037, respectively), and cervical cancer (p<0.0001 and p=0.0004, respectively). CEACAM1 expression did not differ significantly between low-grade SIL and cervical cancer. Representative photographs of CEACAM1 expression in normal cervical tissues, SIL, and invasive cervicalcancer are shown in Figure 1 . Complete IHC and HPV infection data are summarized in Table 2 .
The vast majority of normal cervical tissues (13/15) were negative for CEACAM1. Ten of these CEACAM1-negative samples were also negative for high-risk HPV, whereas the other three CECAM1-negative samples were positive for low-risk HPV 6/11. The remaining two normal low-positive CEACAM1 samples were negative for both high- and low-risk HPV. Three low-grade SIL were negative for CEACAM1, and one of these samples was positive for high-risk HPV. Of 12 low-grade SIL that were positive for CEACAM1 (low positive), six were also positive for high-risk HPV. Almost all high-grade SIL with CEACAM1 staining 33% to 75% (7/10) were positive for high-risk HPV (HPV 16 > HPV 31 > HPV 33 or HPV 18 and three with coinfections). One high-grade SIL with CEACAM1 staining 33% to 75% was negative for high-risk HPV, another was positive for low-risk HPV, and the third was positive for HPV, but HPV typification was not possible. Three of four high-grade SIL with CEACAM1 staining <33% were positive for high-risk HPV (two with low-risk HPV coinfections). However, the unique CEACAM1-negative high-grade SIL was positive for high-risk HPV. Practically all CECAM1-negative or -positive invasive cervical carcinoma tissues were positive for high-risk HPV (see Table2). There was a significant correlation between CEACAM1 expression and high-risk HPV infection (HPV 16, 18, 31, or 33) when all groups were analyzed at the same time (Spearman r=0.552, p<0.001). However, we did not find a significant correlation between CEACAM1 expression and high-risk HPV infection when the four groups were analyzed separately. A two-factor ANOVA analysis showed that CEACAM1 expression differences were explained by study group factor (p<0.0001) and not important by high-risk HPV infection factor (p=0.113).
Cervical cancer implies a complex and not entirely understood interaction between tumor and host factors. SIL progression is tightly linked to HPV persistence and local immune response (Wang and Hildesheim 2003
In this work we describe for the first time the expression pattern of CEACAM1 in cervical cancer and precursor lesions. We show that CEACAM1 immunostaining is significantly increased in high-grade SIL in comparison with low-grade SIL and normal cervical tissues (virtually absent). Statistical analysis reveals that CEACAM1 is a marker of SIL progression. Our data are important in view of the described inhibitory role of CEACAM1 in NK and T cells (Markel et al. 2002
CEACAM1 is a fascinating adhesion molecule that may have apparently opposite actions (i.e., tumor-promoting vs tumor-suppressive functions) depending on the tumor lineage and differentiation grade (Estrera et al. 2001
This work was supported by a grant from the Terry Fox Foundation (to AD-N). The authors thank Karina Franco Topete for assistance with immunohistochemistry and Rogelio Troyo-Sanroman for helpful suggestions used in statistical analysis.
Received for publication January 11, 2006; accepted July 28, 2006
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