Stem-cell-abundant proteins Nanog, Nucleostemin and Musashi1 are highly expressed in malignant cervical epithelial cells

BACKGROUND: Nanog, nucleostemin (NS) and musashi1 (Msi1) are proteins that are highly expressed in undifferentiated embryonic stem (ES) cells and have been shown to be essential in maintaining the pluripotency and regulating the proliferation and asymmetric division of ES cells and several nervous system tumor cells. The roles of Nanog, NS and Msi1 in development and progression of cervical carcinoma have, until now, not been well documented. METHODS: In this study, expression of Nanog, NS and Msi1 was detected by immunohistochemistry analysis in 235 patients with various degrees of cervical epithelial lesions, including 49 with normal cervical epithelia, 31 with mild dysplasia (CIN I), 77 with moderate-severe dysplasia (CIN II-III) and 78 with squamous cervical carcinomas (SCCs). Associations with various clinical pathological prognostic variables were analyzed in 50 early-stage SCC patients. RESULTS: Nanog, NS and Msi1 expression levels were significantly higher in SCC patients compared with CIN patients, and were higher in CIN patients compared with those with normal cervical epithelia. Nanog expression levels showed significantly differences according to different tumor sizes (P < 0.05), whereas there were no differences in NS and Msi1 expression levels according to different clinical pathological parameters. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that Nanog, NS and Msi1 may be involved in carcinogenesis of the cervix and progression of cervical carcinoma.