CISD2 expression is a novel marker correlating with pelvic lymph node metastasis and prognosis in patients with early-stage cervical cancer

The CDGSH iron sulfur domain2 (CISD2) is an evolutionarily conserved gene. It functions to control mammalian life span and regulate human breast cancer cells proliferation. However, the characteristics of CISD2 expression and its clinical/prognostic significance are unclear in human tumor. Our study aimed to investigate the expression pattern and clinicopathological significance of CISD2 in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. The mRNA and protein expression levels of CISD2 were analyzed in eight cervical cancer cell lines and eight paired cervical cancer tumors by real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Immunohistochemistry was performed to examine CISD2 protein expression in paraffin-embedded tissues from 149 early-stage cervical cancer patients. Statistical analyses were used to evaluate the clinicopathological significance of CISD2 expression. CISD2 expression was significantly upregulated in cervical cancer cells at both the mRNA and protein levels. Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation of CISD2 expression with the squamous cell carcinoma antigen (P = 0.000), myometrium invasion (P = 0.003), recurrence (P = 0.012), lymphovascular space involvement (P = 0.019) and especially pelvic lymph node metastasis (PLNM; P = 0.000). Patients with higher CISD2 expression had shorter overall survival duration than patients with lower CISD2 expression. Multivariate analysis suggested that CISD2 expression might be an independent prognostic indicator for the survival of patients with early-stage cervical cancer. Our results for the first time suggested that high CISD2 expression was closely correlated with PLNM and poor prognosis in early-stage cervical cancer patients. CISD2 protein might be a novel biomarker for early-stage cervical cancer progression.