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. 2020 Mar:147:102866.
doi: 10.1016/j.critrevonc.2020.102866. Epub 2020 Jan 15.

Precursor lesions of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma - histology and biomarkers: A systematic review

Shatavisha Dasgupta  1 , Patricia C Ewing-Graham  2 , Sigrid M A Swagemakers  3 , Peter J van der Spek  4 , Helena C van Doorn  5 , Vincent Noordhoek Hegt  6 , Senada Koljenović  7 , Folkert J van Kemenade  8
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Free article

Precursor lesions of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma - histology and biomarkers: A systematic review

Shatavisha Dasgupta et al. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2020 Mar.
Free article

Abstract

The precursor lesion of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC), namely vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN), is classified as: human papillomavirus (HPV)-related high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), and HPV-independent differentiated VIN (dVIN). Traditionally, histology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) have been the basis of diagnosis and classification of VIN. HSIL shows conspicuous histological atypia, and positivity on p16-IHC, whereas dVIN shows less obvious histological atypia, and overexpression or null-pattern on p53-IHC. For both types of VIN, other diagnostic immunohistochemical markers have also been evaluated. Molecular characterization of VIN has been attempted in few recent studies, and novel genotypic subtypes of HPV-independent VSCC and VIN have been identified. This systematic review appraises the VSCC precursors identified so far, focusing on histology and biomarkers (immunohistochemical and molecular). To gain further insights into the carcinogenesis and to identify additional potential biomarkers, gene expression omnibus (GEO) datasets on VSCC were analyzed; the results are presented.

Keywords: Biomarker; Expression array; Histology; Immunohistochemistry; Precursor lesion; Squamous cell carcinoma; Systematic review; Vulva; Vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing Interest The authors have no competing interests to declare. No external funding was received for this study. All the authors gave their approval for the version to be published and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the study.

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