HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

Cellular and Molecular Biology

 

Cathepsin B may be a potential biomarker in cervical cancer

Dan Wu1, Huijun Wang2, Zhunan Li1, Lihua Wang1, Fengyun Zheng2, Juan Jiang3, Yongtao Gao1, Huifang Zhong1, Yong Huang1 and Zhenhe Suo4

1Department of Gynecology, International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Medical College of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China, 2Pathology Research Center & Birth Defect Research Center, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 3Department of Pathology, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai, China and 4Department of Pathology, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.

Offprint requests to: Dr. Dan Wu, International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Medical College of Shanghai Jiaotong University, 910 Hengshan Road, Shanghai 200030, China. e-mail: dr.wudan@163.com


Summary. Cathepsin B is a protease which is able to digest extracellular matrix. It is currently unknown whether cathepsin B plays a role in cervical cancer development and progression. With Q-PCR and Western blotting, we observed cathepsin B expression in cervical cancer cell line Hela cells. After the gene was silenced in HeLa cells with SiRNA, we confirmed that cathepsin B expressions at both mRNA and protein levels were significantly reduced. At the same time, cell proliferation, migration and invasion of the HeLa cells were significantly decreased compared to control cells. In addition, a significant regression of tumor growth in nude mice which received the siRNA targeted cathepsin B HeLa cells was observed. We further studied the expression of cathepsin B in a series of 169 clinical samples, including 56 invasive cervical squamous carcinoma, 85 CINs and 28 normal cervical tissues. It was found that cathepsin B expression in invasive carcinomas was significantly higher than that in the CINs and normal tissues (P<0.01). In addition, cathepsin B expression in the invasive carcinomas was positively correlated to tumor invasion depth and lymphatic metastasis. Our results indicate that cathepsin B may be a potential biomarker for further strategical clinical studies in cervical cancer
. Histol Histopathol 27, 79-87 (2012)

Key words: Cathepsin B, RNA interference, Cervical cancer, Invasion, Metastasis

DOI: 10.14670/HH-27.79