Callinice D. Capo-chichi^{1, 2,}, Blanche Aguida¹, Kathy Qi Cai³, Georges Offrin⁴, Vidéhouénou K Agossou⁵, Ambaliou Sanni¹, Xiang-Xi Xu²

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is a deadly disease for women worldwide and could be prevented if early molecular screening was performed ahead of cytology. In most neoplastic lesions the expression of nuclear proteins GATA6 and/or lamin A/C is deficient. OBJECTIVE: To analyze GATA6 and lamin A/C in archived cervical epithelial tissues and in cells derived from cervical uterine smears (CUS). METHODS: Immunofluorescence was used to analyze GATA6 and lamin A/C in epithelial cell lines. Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze GATA6 and lamin A/C expression in normal and neoplastic archived cervical tissues. Immunoblotting was used to analyze GATA6 and lamin A/C in cells of CUS obtained freshly from 40 selected women (age 20-45 years) who were attending routine gynecological checkup in Hospital Mènontin (Cotonou, BENIN). Colposcopy was used to visualize the vaginal tract and the uterine-cervix junction. This study is approved by our Institutional Research Ethic Committee and by the Ministry of Health in BENIN. RESULTS: Our data shows that the expression of GATA6 and lamin A/C is altered prior to cervical neoplastic lesions. The nuclear biomarkers GATA6 and lamin A/C are absent in 13% of CUS samples. Colposcopic examination performed after two years on 15 women lacking GATA6 and/or lamin A/C shows that 20% of them have developed cervical neoplastic lesions. CONCLUSION: These preliminary results suggest that the deficiency of GATA6 and lamin A/C in CUS could be used as biomarkers to contribute to the identification of women at risk of developing cervical lesions. However further studies are required for cancer prevention.

nuclear proteins, GATA6, lamin A/C; cervical neoplasia, cancer prevention