Expression and significance of FOXM1 in human cervical cancer: A tissue micro-array study

Abstract

Objective: This study was designed to investigate the expression and significance of the Forkhead Box M1 (FOXM1) transcription factor in human cervical cancer.

Methods: The expression of FOXM1 protein was assessed in tissue microarrays containing 102 cervical cancer tissues by the Streptavidin–Peroxidase (SP) immunohistochemitry technique. The relationship between FOXM1 protein and clinico-pathological features (pathological stages, pathological types, TNM stage) was analyzed.

Results: FOXM1 protein was located in the cytoplasma and/or nucleus. The overall expression of FOXM1 in the cytoplasm and nucleus was not associated with T stages (P=0.217) or lymph node status (P=0.313). The nuclear expression of FOXM1 protein was not associated with T stage (P=0.508) or lymph node status (P=0.345). Elevated translocation and activity of FOXM1 were discovered with a secondary analysis that showed that the differences of the nuclear expression of FOXM1, among different pathological stages, were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The nuclear expression of FOXM1 in low differential cervical cancer tissues was significantly higher than in high differential cervical cancer tissues (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The overexpression of FOXM1 protein in cervical cancer maybe associated with the progression of cervical cancer, and could be a potentially novel tumor marker useful for diagnosis and therapy of cervical cancer.