Utility of Ki-67 and p53 in Distinguishing Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia 3 from Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Cervix

The differentiation between cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (CIN 3) and early squamous cell carcinoma(SCC) of the cervix may be difficult in certain situations. Identification of invasion beyond the basement membraneis the gold standard for the diagnosis of the latter. The objective of this study was to determine whether the useof Ki-67 and p53 could help in solving the above dilemma. This was a retrospective study on 61 cases of cervicalneoplasms comprising of 25 cases of CIN 3 and 36 SCC. All cases were evaluated by immunohistochemistryusing Ki-67 and p53 monoclonal antibodies. Results showed that the differences of Ki-67 and p53 expressionbetween CIN 3 and SCC were statistically significant. In conclusion, Ki-67 and p53 may serve as helpful adjunctsto routinely-stained histological sections in differentiating between CIN 3 and SCC.