The immunohistochemical biomarker B-cell lymphoma-2 expression in malignant and premalignant lesions of the uterine cervix and its association with human papillomavirus infection

Introduction: Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women. It results due to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) is the preinvasive condition of cervical cancer. Various objective immunohistochemical (IHC) markers have been studied for cervical cancer. This study is aimed at studying the expression of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) IHC marker among preinvasive and invasive lesions of cervical cancer and its association with HPV infection. Methodology: This prospective study was conducted over a period of 1 year in a tertiary care hospital in central India, included 73 women suffering from CIN and cancer cervix. The expression of Bcl-2 and the presence of HPV genotypes were studied. Results: Out of 73 patients, 34 had cancer cervix, out of which 15 (44%) had Bcl-2 positivity, 24 had CIN 1, out of which 13 (54%) had Bcl-2 positivity, 10 had CIN 2, out of which 4 (40%) had Bcl-2 positivity and 5 had CIN 3, out of which 3 (60%) had Bcl-2 positivity. No significant difference was found in Bcl-2 positivity among CIN-1, CIN-2, CIN-3, and cancer cervix cases with a Chi-square value of 1.116 and P = 0.77. HPV positivity was found in 41 (56%) out of 73 patients where HPV 16 subtype was the most common (31.5%), followed by HPV 18 (13.7%). No significant association between HPV positivity and Bcl-2 positivity was found with P = 0.34. Conclusion: Bcl-2 IHC seems to have variable expression among CIN cases. Although its expression is low among invasive cancer cases when compared with preinvasive lesions, the difference is not significant. Similarly, no significant association was found between Bcl-2 expression and HPV infections.