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. 2021 Oct-Dec;62(4):1029-1034.
doi: 10.47162/RJME.62.4.15.

Role of ProEx C immunocytochemistry in cervical high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions detection

Carmen Ungureanu  1 , Demetra Gabriela Socolov, Gabriela Anton, Eugenia Moroşan, Laura Mihaela Trandafir, Ludmila Lozneanu, Mioara Florentina Trandafirescu, Elena Cojocaru
Affiliations

Role of ProEx C immunocytochemistry in cervical high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions detection

Carmen Ungureanu et al. Rom J Morphol Embryol. 2021 Oct-Dec.

Abstract

Background: Screening programs using Papanicolaou smear along with human papillomavirus (HPV) testing led to a significantly decrease of cervical cancer rates. Nevertheless, both assessments have limited specificity for revealing cervical high-grade lesions. The main problem is how to identify the real precursor of cervical squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), namely high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL).

Aim: The aim of our study was to conclude if ProEx C might be used as a marker for high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).

Materials and methods: In this study, we detected the immunochemical expression of anti-ProEx C antibody in liquid-based cytology (LBC) samples. We analyzed a total number of 125 cervical cytology specimens.

Results: In 48% of all cases, ProEx C was found to be positive. The percentage increased from 0% in negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy (NILM) cases to 100% in SCC cases.

Conclusions: ProEx C may be utilized to improve the accuracy of cytological diagnosis on cervical smears, according to the findings of this study. This marker is also useful in detecting unrevealed high-grade lesions on atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) smears, being very useful in establishing the conduct of these cases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
ASC-US: nuclear marking for ProEx C (immunocytochemistry, ×400). ASC-US: Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance
Figure 2
Figure 2
LSIL: nuclear labeling for ProEx C in dysplastic cells (immunocytochemistry, ×1000). Low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion
Figure 3
Figure 3
HSIL: nuclear labeling for ProEx C in dysplastic cells (immunocytochemistry, ×400). HSIL: High-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion
Figure 4
Figure 4
SCC: nuclear labeling for ProEx C in dysplastic cells (immunocytochemistry, ×400). SCC: Squamous cell carcinoma
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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