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. 2001 Nov;85(10):1551–1556. doi: 10.1054/bjoc.2001.2138

p73 is over-expressed in vulval cancer principally as the Δ2 isoform

J O'Nions 1, L A Brooks 1, A Sullivan 1, A Bell 2, B Dunne 2, M Rozycka 3, A Reddy 1, J A Tidy 4, D Evans 5, P J Farrell 1, A Evans 6, M Gasco 7, B Gusterson 2, T Crook 1
PMCID: PMC2363945  PMID: 11720444

Abstract

p73 was studied in squamous cancers and precursor lesions of the vulva. Over-expression of p73 occurred commonly in both human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive and -negative squamous cell cancers (SCC) and high-grade premalignant lesions. Whereas expression in normal vulval epithelium was detected only in the basal and supra-basal layers, expression in neoplastic epithelium increased with grade of neoplasia, being maximal at both protein and RNA levels in SCC. p73 Δ2 was the principal over-expressed isoform in the majority of cases of vulval SCC and often the sole form expressed in SCC. Over-expression of p73 was associated with expression of HPV-encoded E7 or with hypermethylation or mutation of p16INK4a in HPV-negative cases. There was a close correlation between expression of p73 and p14ARF in cancers with loss of p53 function. The frequent over-expression of p73 Δ2 in neoplastic but not normal vulval epithelium, and its co-ordinate deregulation with other E2F-1 responsive genes suggests a role in the oncogenic process. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign  http://www.bjcancer.com

Keywords: vulval cancer, HPV, p73

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Selected References

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