Patients included in this study were aged 30 to 82, with an average age of 41 years old. Thirty-seven subjects were diagnosed with different stages of CIN, including 11 cases of CIN stage I, 13 cases of CIN stage II, and 13 cases of CIN stage III. Clinical staging of cervical squamous cell carcinomas was performed according to the Federation International of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). The CC specimens were classified as stage I (26) or stage II (14). The degrees of tumor differentiation were verified by postoperative pathology, and these included 24 cases of well-differentiated CC and 16 cases of moderately or poorly C646 supplier differentiated CC. Twenty-eight normal cervical
selleck tissues were collected to serve as controls. All HE staining sections were rechecked and confirmed by pathology experts, and no patients
had been given radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Reagents and instruments Primary antibodies used in this study include IGFBP-5 rabbit anti-human polyclonal antibody (Boster Co., Ltd., Wuhan) and cFLIP rabbit anti-human see more polyclonal antibody (American Neomarker Co.). The DAB kit (Boster Co., Ltd., Wuhan) was used to reveal positive staining. The Olympus IX81 electric research system inverted microscope was used to examine the sections, and the Hybrid Capture II system (American DIGENE Co.) was used to detect high-risk HPV. Reagents used for RNA extraction and RT-PCR include Trizol, DNA marker (TaKaRa Co.), a reverse transcriptase kit, and a PCR kit (PROMEGA Co.). Specimen handling Tissue samples were drawn from all the specimens after a brief
period of culture (20 min) and stored in liquid nitrogen. Additionally, parts of each specimen were fixed in 10% neutral formalin and embedded in paraffin wax. Four Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase serial sections (3–4 mm) were cut from each paraffin block. Cervical secretions from the external cervical orifice and cervical cavity were collected by cervical brush, which was kept in a vial containing HPV cell storage solution. The Hybrid capture II assay was directly applied to these samples to detect high-risk HPV DNA. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) Total RNA was extracted according to the Trizol protocol. To determine the concentration of the RNA, UV absorbance was measured in a spectrophotometer. cDNA was synthesized by reverse transcription of 2 μg of total RNA. PCR amplification of IGFBP-5 and cFLIP was performed in a final volume of 20 μl, with simultaneous amplification of β-actin as an internal reference. The primers were synthesized by Invitrogen Co., Ltd. (Shanghai). The β-actin primer sequences were forward, 5′-GTGGG GCGCC CCAGG CACCA-3′ and reverse 5′-GTCCT TAATG TCACG CACGA TTTC-3′, which amplified a band of 540 bp. The forward primer sequence for IGFBP-5 was 5′-AATTCAAGGCTCAGA AGCGA-3′, while the reverse primer sequence was 5′-GGCAG AAACT CTGCT GTTCC-3′. These primers amplified a 154 bp band.