Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumor 1 (DMBT1) Expression Pattern in Normal Cervix and at Different Stages of Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions

Cervical cancer is one of the most frequently occurring malignancies in women worldwide, with high mortality rates. Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) presents previous states of non-invasive precursor lesions, and early stage Low-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions (LSIL) regress to normal or Atypical Squamous Cells of Undetermined Significance (ASCUS) in approximately 50% of cases. Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumors 1 (DMBT1) is a tumour suppression glycoprotein, which absence is considered a malignancy marker in many epithelial cancers.

To analyse DMBT1’s presence and localization in SCC and precursor lesions.

Immunohistochemistry for DMBT1 was performed in cervix biopsies classified as normal, LSIL, HSIL and SCC.

DMBT1 was detected at the supranuclear and sometimes infranuclear regions of the endocervix monolayer epithelial cells in normal and HSIL biopsies. In LSIL samples the detection of DMBT1 in endocervix was variable between patients. Also variable was DMBT1 staining in cells of glandular epithelium. The glycoprotein was not detected in the stratified epithelium of the exocervix, regardless of the lesion grade; nor in dysplastic cells.

The absence of DMBT1 from endocervix only in some samples of LSIL is promising as a candidate for possible lesion regression potential marker.