Identification of the genes differentially expressed in cervical cancer but not in the non-cancerous cervix is important for understanding the molecular basis of cervical cancer and for defining possible prognostic value and therapeutic intervention. We investigated the changes in gene expression accompanying the development and progression of cervical cancer by cDNA microarray.

To identify molecular alterations in squamous cell carcinoma of uterine cervix, we measured expression profiles for paired cancer and noncancerous cervix samples from three individuals by means of a cDNA microarry representing 17,000 genes.

The 36 genes were noted to have more than a three-fold change in expression (either increased or decreased) in cervical squamous cell carcinoma compared to the non-cancerous cervix in all three experiments. The changed genes are those associated with cell proliferation/apoptosis, signal transduction/transcription, extracellular matrix, enzyme, immune response, cytoskeleton, angiogenesis and others.

The authors predicted that these gene expression profiling experiments will lead to improvements in the basic understanding of pathogenesis of cervical cancer and will promote the discovery of novel molecular markers for cervical cancer diagnosis and therapy.