OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinicopathological significance of Twist and YB-1 up-regulation in cervical cancer, and to correlate the expression of the two genes with E-cadherin, a marker of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).

METHODSA total of 202 tissue samples were collected during January 2008 to December 2013, including 50 cases of normal cervical tissues, 100 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and 52 cases of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Twist, YB-1 and E-cadherin expression was investigated by MaxVision.

RESULTSIncreased expression levels of Twist and YB-1 were found and correlated with the malignant transformation of cervical epithelium, histological progression and metastasis of cervical cancer. In addition, Twist and YB-1 overexpression was also associated with aberrant expression of E-cadherin. Regression analysis revealed that Twist expression was an independent factor for the histological progression of cervical cancer.

CONCLUSIONSIt is suggested that Twist and YB-1 overexpression is significantly linked to cervical cancer tumorigenesis and progression, likely related to EMT through (YB-1)-Twist-(E-cadherin) pathway. Twist and YB-1 may be markers for determining the metastatic potential of cervical cancer.

Biomarkers, Tumor ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cadherins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia ; metabolism ; pathology ; Disease Progression ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition ; Epithelium ; pathology ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Nuclear Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Twist-Related Protein 1 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Up-Regulation ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Y-Box-Binding Protein 1 ; genetics ; metabolism