BACKGROUND
Current standard treatments for patients with recurrent cervical cancer are not very effective and are associated with severe toxicity. Recently, the rational approach for the discovery of new therapies for cervical cancer is based on the alterations in the molecular biology of cancer cells. One of the emerging molecular changes in cancer cells is the aberrant expression of cytochrome P450 1B1 (CYP1B1). This unique enzyme has been reported to be selectively overexpressed in several cancers.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to examine CYP1B1 expression in cervical cancers and to assess the enzyme’s relationship with several clinicopathological features.
METHODS
Immunohistochemistry was performed to examine CYP1B1 expression in 100 patient samples with cervical cancer and 10 patient samples with normal healthy cervical tissues.
RESULTS
CYP1B1 was expressed in the majority of the cervical cancer samples (91/100, 91.0%) but not in normal healthy cervical samples. The difference in the expression of CYP1B1 between healthy and tumorous cervical tissues was significant (<i>P</i>=.01). Moreover, the frequency of CYP1B1 expression was found to be significantly higher in patients with advanced grades of the disease (<i>P</i>=.03) and in patients having metastasis to the lymph nodes (<i>P</i>=.01). Surprisingly, there was a significantly higher expression of CYP1B1 in patients with a high prevalence of human papilloma virus 16/18 (<i>P</i>=.04).
CONCLUSIONS
The differential profile of CYP1B1 expression between cervical cancer tissues and normal cervical tissues suggests that CYP1B1 may be used as a target for future therapeutic exploitations.