Nestin expression as an indicator of cervical cancer initiation.

: Nestin is an intermediate filament protein expressed in proliferating cells during embryonic development of the central nervous system (CNS) and considered to be a neuronal stem cell/progenitor cell marker. This study investigated the difference of nestin expression between pre-cancer (carcinoma in situ - CIS) and cancer of cervix in 129 tissues (49 normal cervix, 41 CIS, and 39 invasive cervical cancer) through the use of a paraffin-embedded tissue array. Immunostaining was evaluated by intensity, proportion of stained cells, and pattern of expression. The expression of nestin was positive in 63.4% (26/41) for CIS and 43.6% (17/39) for invasive cervical cancer, but only 26.5% (13/49) for normal tissues (p = 0.002). Strong positive staining/large proportion staining were 53.7% (22/41) / 36.6% (15/41), 15.4% (6/39) / 61.5% (24/39) in the CIS and invasive cervical cancer tissues, respectively (p = 0.043, p < 0.001). The diffuse stain with basal layer was positive in 90.2% (37/41) for CIS, but only 24.5% (12/49) of the samples were positive in normal tissues (p < 0.001). Based on these results, the authors suggest that nestin expression seems to participate in the step of cancer initiation and could potentially be a useful marker in the early detection of cervical cancer.