Discrepancies in expression and prognostic value of tumor markers in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma in cervical cancer.

The expression of 11 tumor markers in 129 women with squamous cell compared to 31 women with adenomatous cervical cancer was investigated to detect differences in expression. There was a significantly higher expression of p53, CD4, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), CD44 and stratifin in squamous cell, compared to adenocarcinoma, while there was a higher expression of c-myc in adenocarcinoma. P-53, cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) and c-myc significantly correlated to prognosis in squamous cell carcinoma, but none of the 11 investigated tumor markers had any prognostic value in adenocarcinomas. The prognostic value of individual tumor markers differs with the histological subtype in cervical cancer.