Immunohistochemical Investigation of P16 Expression in Curettage Biopsies

Abstract

Our study aims to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of the P16 molecule, which is involved in the cell cycle and plays a role in developing endometrial cancer in normal epithelium, endometrial polyp, and precursor lesions. A total of 68 patients underwent endometrial sampling for various reasons at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Kafkas University, between 2020 and 2021 were included in the study. The selected cases were categorized into four groups: proliferative endometrium, endometrial hyperplasia without atypia, atypical hyperplasia / endometrioid intraepithelial neoplasia (AH / EIN) and endometrial polyp. There were no cases with a diagnosis of endometrial tumors in our study. All patients’ pathology samples were re-evaluated, and P16 immunohistochemistry was applied to tissue samples. Among patients diagnosed with atypical endometrial hyperplasia, 72.7% exhibited moderate P16 protein expression, 18.2% had low expression, and 9.1% had high protein expression. The number of patients diagnosed with AH / EIN had a very low frequency in the study population. Among patients diagnosed with endometrial polyps, 50.0% showed moderate P16 protein expression, 20.0% exhibited low protein expression, and 30.0% had high protein expression. High P16 expression has been reported to be significantly associated with endometrial cancer in the literature. P16 expression is significant in precancerous lesions and stages of cancer development. Larger-scale studies with more cases are needed in this regard.