Gankyrin Is Frequently Overexpressed in Cervical High Grade Disease and Is Associated with Cervical Carcinogenesis and Metastasis

Our previous studies have showed that Gankyrin expression is correlated with a malignant phenotype in endometrial carcinoma. Here, we investigated the possible role of Gankyrin in cervical disease. The increasing protein level of Gankyrin was observed in high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and carcinoma compared with benign cervical tissues and low-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. In para-carcinoma tissues, it was found interestingly that there was no lymph node metastasis when nuclei Gankyrin was positively expressed, but lymph node metastasis rate was 30% (6/20) when nuclei Gankyrin was negatively expressed. In vitro, the transfection of Gankyrin resulted in markedly up-regulating of Vimentin, β-catenin and Twist2, as well as down-regulating of E-cadherin in cervical carcinoma cells. Our results suggested that Gankyrin may be functional in cervical carcinogenesis and metastasis.