The significance of prohibitin and c-Met/hepatocyte growth factor receptor in the progression of cervical adenocarcinoma

To examine the importance of prohibitin 1 and c-Met/hepatocyte growth factor receptor (HGFR) expression in human cervical adenocarcinomas, 85 patients (69 with invasive adenocarcinoma [ACA] and 16 with adenocarcinoma in situ [AIS]) were studied using immunohistochemistry. High prohibitin 1 expression was found in 51 (73.9%) of the 69 ACAs and 11 (68.7%) of the 16 AIS lesions. Prohibitin 1 overexpression was significantly higher in ACA and AIS than in adjacent nonneoplastic glandular epithelium (P < .001 for both comparisons). Prohibitin 1 expression was also positively related to tumor size (P = .019) or parametrial involvement (P = .027) in ACA. c-Met was expressed in 21 ACAs (30.4%) and was positively correlated with the Fédération Internationale de Gynécologie et d'Obstétrique (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage classification (P = .007) or nodal metastasis (P = .047). Nodal metastasis (P = .028) and c-Met expression (P = .022) were independent predictors for the overall survival of patients in multivariate analysis using the Cox regression method. Prohibitin 1 activation seems to be an early event, whereas c-Met overexpression may be important for the progression of cervical adenocarcinomas. Evaluation of c-Met expression status may identify a subset of patients with cervical adenocarcinoma who require more intensive treatment.