Expression and significance of SHP-2 in human papillomavirus infected cervical cancer

This study investigated the expression and prognostic value of SHP-2 in cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Forty-five specimens from patients with cervical cancer (stage I-III), 32 specimens from patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) (I, II) and 20 normal cervical samples from patients with hysteromyoma were collected in Department of Pathology for comparison. The expression levels of SHP-2 and IFN-beta proteins were detected by using immunohistochemistry. The mRNA expression level of SHP-2 was detected by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). HPVs were detected by HPV GenoArray Test. The Spearman correlation was used to compare the expression level of SHP-2 in HPV infected cervical cancer vs non-HPV infected normal cervix. The level of SHP-2 protein expression in the cancer tissues (88.8%) was significantly higher than in CIN tissues (62.5%) and normal cervixes (45%) (P < 0.05 and P < 0.05, respectively). The SHP-2 mRNA levels in the cancer tissues were upregulated as compared with those in the normal cervixes (P < 0.05). Twenty-one (46.7%) cervical cancers, 25 (78.1%) CINs and 17 (85%) normal cervixes showed IFN-beta positive staining in cytoplasm. There was statistically significant difference in the expression rate of IFN-beta between cervical cancer and normal cervix (chi (2)=8.378, P < 0.05) as well as between cervical cancer and CIN (chi (2)=7.695, P < 0.05). HPV16/18 infections could be found in normal cervixs (15%), CINs (68.7%) and cervical cancers (84.4%). There was a correlation between HPV infection and SHP-2 expression in cervical cancer (r (s)=0.653, P < 0.05). SHP-2 may be a useful prognostic and diagnostic indicator for HPV infected cervical cancer. In cervical cancers, SHP-2 mRNA and protein overexpression was associated with IFN-beta lower-expression.