Significance and expression of p16 and EGFR in vulvar dystrophy and squamous cell carcinoma of vulva

    ZHANG Jiª²Gang, YU Chunª²Yan, LIU Chunª²Hua

    1Department of Dermatology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¡¯an 710038, China, 2Army Sanatorium, Lintong 720632, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM£ºTo study the expression of p16 and EGFR in vulvar dystrophy and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of vulva and to analyze their contribution to the pathogenesis and malignant transformation of vulvar dystrophy. METHODS: The expression of p16 and EGFR was investigated by SABC technique of immunohistochemistry in 100 cases of various vulvar dystrophy and 34 cases of SCC of vulva. RESULTS: Atypical hyperplasia group showed a dramatic reduction in p16 protein expression and an increase in EGFR expression compared with the normal tissue and other various dystrophy (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between atypical hyperplasia and the group of SCC of vulva (P>0.05). In SCC of vulva, the loss of p16 and overexpression of EGFR occurred mainly in stage III and the expression level of EGFR was much higher in p16ª²negative cases than that in p16ª²positive cases (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The overexpression of EGFR may be related to the pathogenesis of vulvar dystrophy. The loss of p16 and the overexpression of EGFR may play an important role in the malignant transformation of vulvar dystrophy. ......