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Cervical cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. The human wings apart-like (hWAPL) gene, which is 30,793 bp long and located on 10q23.2., is a human homologue of the WAPL gene in Drosophila melanogaster. hWAPL has the characteristics of an oncogene in uterine cervical cancer. The present study investigated the expression of the hWAPL gene in tissues, including 9 common cancers, consisting of cervical, gastric and lung cancers, liver, bladder, esophageal, endometrial, renal and rectal carcinomas, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and benign squamous epithelia. The immunohistochemical analysis was conducted using paraffin-embedded tissues obtained from 413 patients, consisting of 27 benign squamous epithelial tissue samples, and 47 cervical cancer, 30 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)I, 33 CINII, 38 CINIII, 29 gastric cancer, 28 liver carcinoma, 26 bladder carcinoma, 35 esophageal carcinoma, 25 endometrial, 26 renal carcinoma, 36 rectal carcinoma and 33 lung cancer tissues. The expression of hWAPL mRNA was evaluated by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 8 benign squamous epithelia and 11 cervical cancer tissues. Compared to benign squamous epithelia and the 8 other cancers, hWAPL protein was significantly increased in cervical cancer (P<0.001). The expression of the hWAPL protein in cervical cancer and CINIII tissues was markedly increased compared to the expression in CINI and CINII tissues (P<0.001). Despite the significant difference in the staining scores (P<0.001), no significant difference was observed in the percentage of tissues expressing hWAPL (P=0.102) between cervical cancer and CINIII. The hWAPL gene may therefore be specifically overexpressed in cervical cancer. The overexpression of hWAPL may play an important role in occurrence and development of cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main obstacle in the development of an effective tumor vaccine is the inherent ability of tumors to evade immune responses. Tumors often use common immune mechanisms and regulators to evade the immune system. The present study aimed to analyze the expression levels of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), programmed death-ligand (PD-L) 1, PD-L2, B7-H4, galectin-1 and galectin-3 in tissue samples from patients with endometrial carcinoma, in order to detect the immunosuppressive environment of endometrial carcinomas. The levels of IDO, PD-L1, PD-L2 and B7-H4 were analyzed by immunohistochemical methods, and the levels of galectin-1 and galectin-3 in tumor lysates were determined using ELISA. PD-L2 was expressed at low levels in the majority of tumor samples. IDO expression was detected in 38, 63 and 43% of primary endometrial carcinoma, recurrent endometrial carcinoma, and metastatic endometrial carcinoma specimens, respectively. Positive expression rates for PD-L1 were 83% in primary endometrial carcinoma, 68% in recurrent endometrial carcinoma, and 100% in metastatic endometrial carcinoma, whereas B7-H4 expression was detected in 100% of both primary endometrial carcinoma and recurrent endometrial carcinoma samples, and in 96% of metastatic endometrial carcinoma specimens. The expression levels of galectin-1 and galectin-3 were not significantly different between the normal and tumor specimens. The results of the present study suggest that the interaction between PD-1/PD-L1 and B7-H4 may be a potential target for immune intervention in the treatment of endometrial carcinoma. Furthermore, the results may provide the basis for immunosuppressant therapy in the treatment of patients with uterine cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]