Correlation between Ki-67 and telomerase expression with in situ hybridization for high-risk human papillomavirus

The objective of this research was to evaluate the relationship of Ki-67 and telomerase expression with the progression of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and the physical state of the DNA of high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) types. A comparative study was done on 80 biopsies of human (female) cervical tissue, distributed in the following manner: 20 CIN-negative biopsies and 60 CIN-positive biopsies of varying grades. The detection of the proteins Ki-67 and telomerase was performed through immunohistochemistry; the detection of HR-HPV, by in situ hybridization. The expression of Ki-67 and telomerase increased with the progression of the CIN lesion (p <0.001). The HR-HPV genome was detected in 75% of the cases with CIN, as well as in 20% of the tissues without histological lesions (p=0.001). A significant association was found between the increase in telomerase and Ki-67 expression and the integration of the DNA of HR-HPV. The overexpression of Ki-67, telomerase and the presence the integration of the DNA of HR-HPV are evidenced by more aggressive lesions that may progress to invasive carcinoma.