Nucleoporin 88 expression in normal and neoplastic squamous epithelia of the uterine cervix

This study investigated the expression of nucleoporin 88 (Nup88) in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded archival tissues of cervical specimens consisting of normal ectocervical squamous epithelia (n = 34), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions corresponding to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 1 (n = 9), high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions corresponding to CIN2 and CIN3 (n = 28), and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (ISCC; n = 30) to determine whether expression of this factor is involved in the progression of the morphological spectrum from normal cervical epithelia to CIN and cervical ISCC. A standard immunohistochemical technique was performed using a Ventana BenchMark XT immunostainer with a mouse antihuman monoclonal antibody to Nup88. Immunostaining was scored with regard to quantity and intensity of positively stained cells, with final immunoscores from 0 to 12 in each case. Nucleoporin 88 immunoscores increased significantly from normal ectocervical squamous epithelia to CIN1, CIN2/3, and ISCC (P < .0001, analysis of variance). Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2/3 as isolated lesions and adjacent to ISCC did not differ significantly. A significant correlation was noticed for immunoscores of CIN2/3 adjacent to ISCC and the corresponding ISCC (P = .0007). This study indicates that Nup88 is significantly overexpressed in high-grade CIN lesions and ISCC compared with normal ectocervical squamous epithelia and CIN1. However, Nup88 evaluation is of limited value as a diagnostic marker in individual cases.