Decreased expression of GRIM-19 and its association with high-risk HPV infection in cervical squamous intraepithelial neoplasias and cancer

Purpose GRIM-19 has been shown to be down-regulated in cervical cancers. This study investigated the expression of GRIM-19 in cervical intra-epithelial neoplasias and its association with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection. Methods The expression of GRIM-19 was assessed in cervical exfoliated cells and cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia tissues by immunohistochemistry, and the level of GRIM-19 was also evaluated by Western blotting using cervical exfoliated cells. HR-HPV infection of cervical exfoliated cells was detected by HC II. Results GRIM-19 is predominantly expressed in the cytoplasm of the middle layer of normal cervical epithelial cells, whereas the surface layer cells of the normal cervix showed no GRIM-19 expression. The expression of GRIM-19 gradually decreased from atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) to squamous cell carcinoma (SCC); a pattern which was also observed in cervical intra-epithelial neoplasias tissues. The reduced expression of GRIM-19 was correlated with HR-HPV infection. Conclusion GRIM-19 may regulate the differentiation of normal cervical tissue, and a decrease in GRIM-19 may be the result of HR-HPV infection, which in turn leads to the malignant transformation of the cells.