Role of CK7 Immunoreactivity in Predicting Progression of the Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia: A Retrospective Cross-sectional Study.

Abstract

Background & objective: Cervical intraepithelial squamous lesions (SIL) are the first step toward developing most cervical cancers. Moreover, most of the previous studies focusing on a reliable predictive factor of cervical cancer progression have been reported as inconclusive. Recently, immunophenotyping of squamocolumnar junction cells with CK7 has been introduced as a novel SIL detection and risk evaluation method. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the value of CK7 positivity and its pattern in predicting the progression of LSIL to high-grade counterparts.

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in Yas Complex Hospital from 2016 to 2018 among patients of the clinic of colonoscopy. Patients with low-grade lesions were included in one group, and patients with high-grade lesions were considered as a control group. The immunoreactivity of CK7 by immunohistochemical staining pattern was interpreted in both groups.

Results: CK7 immunoreactivity was negative in 29.5% of the precancerous lesions and positive in 70.5%. The relationship between grade and CK7 staining was significant (P = 0.040). A significant relationship between the progression status of the disease and CK7 staining was obtained (P=0.001). CK7 staining showed a sensitivity of 82.35%, specificity of 81.82%, positive predictive value of 87.5%, negative predictive value of 75%, and diagnostic accuracy of 82.14% in predicting the progression of the SILs.

Conclusion: Our data and previous studies support the correlation of CK7 expression with a higher chance of progression of low-grade intraepithelial lesions.