Granzyme B as a prognostic marker of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

Eur J Gynaecol Oncol. 2005;26(1):87-9.

Abstract

Granzyme B (GrB) is a serine protease synthesized in T lympocytes (CTL), released after T-cell activation resulting from exogenous stimulation. With perforin, GrB discharges apoptotic signals to a target cell and therefore constitutes a marker to identify activated CTL. We aimed to quantify GrB expression by immunohistochemistry staining in 12 tissue fragments of cervical carcinoma, 33 cervical intraepithelial neoplasias treated by LLTEZ and nine cervical pieces without disease. Activated cytotoxic lymphocyte mean values (20 HPF-400x) in both epithelial and stromal pars were 7.11 cells in tissue without neoplasia, 33.45 cells in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and 139.75 cells in carcinoma samples, with a statistical difference between them. Comparative analysis in the CIN group showed an expressive difference between cases with disease recurrence (19.28 cells) and without recurrence (37.26 cells). Thus, the relation between number of activated CTLs found at the moment of treatment and clinical evolution determined in this study, suggest GrB use as a prognostic marker.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Female
  • Granzymes
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / metabolism*
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / pathology
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Prognosis
  • Serine Endopeptidases / metabolism*
  • Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / metabolism*
  • Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / pathology
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / pathology

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • GZMB protein, human
  • Granzymes
  • Serine Endopeptidases