Epithelial and tumor-associated endothelial expression of B7-H3 in cervical carcinoma: relation with CD8+ intraepithelial lymphocytes, FIGO stage, and phosphohistone H3 (PHH3) reactivity.

B7-H3 is a transmembrane protein and a member of the B7 family of immune regulatory ligands. It exerts both inhibitory and stimulatory effects on the activation of T cells. We investigated the expression of B7-H3 in invasive squamous cell carcinoma (ISCC) of the uterine cervix by immunohistochemistry, and aimed to determine whether expression of this factor is involved in the progression of the morphologic spectrum from normal cervical epithelia to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical ISCC.