Expression and prognostic significance of TAp73 and ΔNp73 in FIGO stage I-II cervical squamous cell carcinoma

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the expression of TAp73 and ΔNp73 in cervical squamous cancer cells, and to evaluate the prognostic significance of TAp73 and ΔNp73 expression in patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I-II cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The immunohistochemical expression of TAp73 and ΔNp73 was evaluated in 59 FIGO stage I-II cervical SCC tumor samples. Correlations with clinicopathological characteristics were determined by χ test. The prognostic impact of TAp73 and ΔNp73 expression with regard to overall survival (OS) was determined by the Kaplan-Meier method. High TAp73 and ΔNp73 expression was detected in 79.7% (47/59) and 76.3% (45/59) of patients, respectively. The expression of TAp73 and ΔNp73 was not associated with age, FIGO stage, pathological differentiation or lymph node metastasis. The 3-year OS rates associated with low and high TAp73 expression were 75.0 and 83.0%, respectively (χ=0.33; P=0.568), whereas those associated with low and high ΔNp73 expression were 100.0 and 75.6%, respectively (χ=3.90; P=0.048). High expression levels of TAp73 and ΔNp73 were frequently observed in the cervical squamous cancer cells. Overall, high expression levels of ΔNp73 may indicate an unfavorable prognosis in patients with early-stage cervical SCC.