Affiliation:
1. Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Silchar Medical College and Hospital.
2. Postgraduate trainee, Department of Pathology, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.
Abstract
Background: Cervical cancer is one of the common cancers in women of developing countries. Persistent human papilloma virus (HPV) is
probably the best predictor of cervical carcinogenesis, but HPV DNA test being costlier expression of certain markers of cell proliferation and
apoptosis have been studied. The present study was conducted to evaluate the expression of bcl-2 in premalignant lesions of uterine cervix.
Methods: Specimens of cervical biopsy retrieved from incident cases for routine histopathological evaluation from the Department of Obstetrics
and Gynaecology, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Guwahati, India formed the source of data.
Results: A total of 40 cases were studied in the present study comprising of 23 cases of Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 1, 9 cases of CIN 2,
6 cases of CIN 3, and 2 cases of Carcinoma in situ (CIS). It was observed that there was increase in bcl-2 positivity with increasing grade of CIN
(CIN 1=69.57%, CIN 2=77.78%, CIN 3=83.33%, CIS=100%).
Conclusions: Bcl-2 being an intracellular membrane protein prevents apoptotic cell death. Hence, bcl-2 can be used as a biomarker to know the
severity of the premalignant lesions. Thus, it may also help in identifying the high risk premalignant lesions which needs further surveillance and
treatment