Comparative study of phosphorylated histone H2AX expressions in the cervical cancer patients of pre- and postneoadjuvant chemotherapy

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether phosphorylation of histone H2AX (γH2AX) is a predictive marker for neoadjuvant chemotherapy patients of cervical cancer. Materials and Methods: The sections were divided into three sets. Set 1 consisted of 40 pre-treatment biopsies. Post-treatment tissues includes 38 patients in set 2 and 34 patients in set 3 who received cisplatin concurrent docetaxel treatment for one or two cycles, respectively. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections were analyzed after antigen retrieval and fluorescence antibody labeling for γH2AX staining. Results: The expressions of γH2AX in cervical cancer tissues of post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy decreased to 22.94 ± 14.02% and 23.68 ± 13.55% (one and two cycles treatment, respectively) compared to preneoadjuvant chemotherapy (28.29 ± 15.67%), however there was no significant difference for γH2AX expression between pre- and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy patients (F=1.425, p = 0.245). There was no significant correlation between γH2AX expression and clinicopathologic parameters in patients of pre- and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Conclusions: As a predictive marker for neoadjuvant chemotherapy of cervical cancer, more extensive research regarding γH2AX expression should be explored.

γH2AX; Cervical cancer; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

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