Circulating microRNA expression levels can serve as diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers in several types of malignant tumors; however, to our knowledge, there have been reports describing their value in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). In this study, we used hybridization arrays to compare the microRNA expression profiles in cervical squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) samples among patients with lymph node metastasis (LNM) or without LNM; 89 microRNAs were found to fit our inclusion criteria. Using quantitative PCR (qPCR), we examined the expression levels of these microRNAs in cervical cancer tissue, as well as in serum from patients and healthy women. We compared the expression levels between patients with LNM (n=40) and those without LNM (n=40) and healthy controls (n=20). Using regression analysis, we generated a comprehensive set of marker microRNAs and drew the fitted binormal receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to access the predictive value. We identified 6 serum microRNAs that can predict LNM in cervical SCC patients; these microRNAs were miR-1246, miR-20a, miR-2392, miR-3147, miR-3162-5p and miR-4484. The area under the curve (AUC) of the comprehensive set of serum microRNAs predicting LNM was 0.932 (sensitivity, 0.856; specificity, 0.850). The predictive value of the serum microRNAs was inferior to that in tissue (AUC 0.992; sensitivity, 0.967; specificity, 0.950; P=0.018). We compared the LNM predictive value of serum microRNAs and SCC antigen (SCC-Ag) by drawing fitted binormal ROC curves However, serum microRNA analysis is by far superior to serum SCC-Ag analysis (AUC 0.713; sensitivity, 0.612; specificity, 0.700; P<0.0001). Serum microRNAs are a good predictor of LNM with clinical value in early-stage cervical SCC.

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Backgroud and ObjectiveNerve-sparing radical hysterectomy (NSRH) may be associated with lower postoperative morbidity than radical hysterectomy (RH). We aimed to compare the clinical efficacy and safety of abdominal or laparoscopic NSRH and RH for treating cervical cancer through systematic review and meta-analysis.MethodsPubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were systematically searched for all relevant studies. Data were abstracted independently by two reviewers. A meta-analysis was performed to compare intra- and postoperative outcomes for the two techniques.ResultsA total of 17 clinical trials were identified. Meta-analysis showed that although operating time was significantly longer for abdominal or laparoscopic NSRH than for RH, NSRH based on laparotomy or laparoscopy proved more effective for postoperative recovery of bladder function. NSRH was also associated with lower bladder dysfunction morbidity and fewer postoperative complications. Two abdominal trials and one laparoscopic study further suggested that NSRH was associated with shorter time to recovery of anal/rectal function. In contrast, RH and NSRH based on laparotomy or laparoscopy were similar in terms of extent of resection, recurrence rate, survival rate, blood loss and frequency of intraoperative complications. The meta-analysis showed that abdominal NSRH was not significantly different from RH in length of hospital stay, while one trial suggested that length of hospital stay was shorter after laparoscopic NSRH than after the corresponding RH.ConclusionNSRH may be a reliable technique for treating early cervical cancer. Available evidence suggests that it is better than RH for postoperative recovery of pelvic organ function and postoperative morbidity, while the two techniques involve similar clinical safety and extent of resection. These results should be considered preliminary since they are based on a relatively small number of controlled trials, most of which were non-randomized. The findings should be verified in larger, well-designed studies.

PAX2 is an essential transcription factor for development. Aberrant PAX2 expression in adult tissues is associated with carcinogenesis and experimental evidence shows that PAX2 generally exhibits oncogenic properties. Although PAX2 is not expressed in normal ovaries, it is highly expressed in low malignant potential and low-grade epithelial ovarian tumors, suggesting that PAX2 induction in ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) may contribute to transformation. Herein, we provide evidence that expression of PAX2 in normal murine OSE cells (mOSE) enhances their proliferation and survival and, with loss of p53, induces tumorigenicity. PAX2 expression in murine ovarian cancer cells enhanced or inhibited tumorigenicity, depending on the model system. In RM cells (mOSE transformed by K-RAS and c-MYC), PAX2 expression inhibited p53 and induced pERK1/2 and COX2, resulting in enhanced angiogenesis and decreased apoptosis of tumors arising from these cells. However, in a murine model of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (STOSE), PAX2 expression improved animal survival by reducing proliferation and metastasis, which correlated with increased Htra1 and decreased COX2. Thus, PAX2 may not be a classical oncogene or tumor suppressor but instead can act in either role by differential regulation of COX2 and/or HTRA1.

Our results suggested that the circulating miR-20a may be a potential biomarker for detecting the lymph node status of cervical cancer patients.