Expression of Ki-67 in Cervical Epithelial Cells in Preneoplastic Lesions of Patients with AIDS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The objective of the present investigation was to study the expression of the proliferation marker Ki-67 in cervical intraepithelial lesions in women with AIDS. We studied 18 low-grade cervical intraepithelial lesions (Lo-CIN) and 8 high-grade cervical intraepithelial lesions (Hi-CIN ) in AIDS patients and 18 Lo-CIN and 14 Hi-CIN in patients from the general population. Positive Ki-67 nuclei were counted. A significantly higher number of Ki-67-positive cells (p < 0.001) was found in Lo-CIN of AIDS patients (mean 29.18 ± 10.44) as compared with Lo-CIN of general-population women (mean 17.08 ± 7.40), whereas no significant difference in positive Ki-67 nuclei was observed in the Hi-CIN of AIDS patients and of patients from the general population (p > 0.05). We conclude that the proliferative potential of cervical cells in Lo-CIN – as studied by the expression of the proliferation marker Ki-67 – is higher in AIDS patients than in the general population.