Analysis of the expression and localisation of a LAP protein, human scribble, in the normal and neoplastic epithelium of uterine cervix

Recently, a LAP protein, scribble, was identified in Drosophila epithelia as a basolateral protein that controls the apical-basolateral polarity. Loss of scribble causes disorganisation and overgrowth of the epithelia. Scribble has a human homologue, human scribble (hScrib), which is a substrate of ubiquitin-mediated degradation by human papillomavirus E6 and the E6AP ubiquitin-protein ligase. In the present study, we revealed that hScrib localised to the basolateral regions of the epithelial cell line MDCK and human uterine cervical epithelial tissues by immunofluorescence. Human scribble colocalised rather with the adherens junction protein E-cadherin, but not with the tight junction protein ZO-1. Histochemical analysis showed a dramatic decrease in the expression of hScrib with the progression of disease from normal uterine cervical tissues to invasive cervical cancers through the precursor lesions. In contrast, the expression of hScrib was retained in the throughout epithelial layer of the HPV-negative cervical high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (H-SIL). Although quantitative RT–PCR revealed no significant downregulation of hScrib mRNA expression in the H-SIL, it revealed a clear downregulation in the invasive cancers. These results suggest the possibility that degradation by HPV E6 is one of the causal roles for the progressive decrease of hScrib expression during the disease progression from low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions to H-SIL, and a cooperative role of downregulation of hScrib mRNA expression and ubiquitin-mediated degradation of hScrib by E6 and E6AP led to the complete decrease of hScrib expression during the process of carcinogenesis from H-SIL to invasive cancer. These data underscore the importance of hScrib in the construction of tissue architecture and prevention of cancer development.