Elevated expression of endocan in the development of cervical squamous neoplasia of the uterus

Accumulated evidence has shown that endocan, which was originally called endothelial cell-specific molecule-1, is an attractive prognostic factor in a variety of cancers. However, the relevance of endocan expression in human malignancies remains to be clarified. In the present study, the expression of endocan in cervical squamous neoplasia of the uterus, including low- and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL and HSIL, respectively), as well as in invasive squamous cell carcinoma was examined by immunohistochemistry. Endocan was not sufficiently expressed in the normal cervical epithelium. Endocan expression was present in LSIL cases but was limited to basal and parabasal areas of the cells. HSIL cases exhibited strong expression of endocan with widely distributed expression toward the epithelial surface. In contrast, further strong expression of endocan was not observed in patients with invasive carcinoma. This study is the first study showing increased expression of endocan in precancerous dysplastic lesions and malignancy of the cervix. The data suggest that a high expression level of endocan potentially contributes to the development of cervical squamous neoplasia of the uterus.