Immunohistochemical assay of p53, cyclin D1, c-erbB2, EGFr and Ki-67 proteins in HPV-positive and HPV-negative cervical cancers

The purpose of the present study was to analyse clinical correlation between HPV type 16 and 18 infection, expression of p53, cyclin D1, Ki-67, c-erbB2 and EGFr gene products in cervical cancer cells as well as their nuclear ploidy. The morphological parameters evaluated, such as differentiation of carcinomas, vascular invasion, ploidy and expression of oncogenic proteins, indicate the increased biological malignancy of HPV 16/18-positive carcinomas. The majority of them were poorly differentiated, revealed significantly higher frequence of vascular invasion (p<0.05), were more frequently aneuploid and showed overexpression of cyclin D1. The comparison of the data obtained with the mortality rate of the patients suggests that the overexpression of EGFr and moderate expression of Ki-67 seem to be unfavorable prognostic factors, regardless of the presence of HPV 16/18.