Neuropilin-1 is associated with the prognosis of cervical cancer in Henan Chinese population.

Neuropilin-1 has been reported to be a valuable diagnostic biomarker in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and early cervical cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between Neuropilin-1 and the prognosis of cervical cancer in Henan Chinese population. Tissues were collected in The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University between 2010 and 2012, determining the level and expression of Neuropilin-1 in different cervical lesions by immunohistochemistry. The cell proliferation assay, wound-healing assays and Transwell assay were performed to explore the ability of proliferation, migration and invasion for Hela and Caski cells after NRP-1 was knocked down by shRNA transfection. Western blotting was performed to investigate the role of NRP-1 in endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT). Tumor xenografts model was used to evaluate the effect of NRP-1 on the tumor growth. The expression of NRP-1 was upregulated in the tumor tissues compared with the CIN and normal tissues (<0.0001). The overall survival time of the high NRP-1 expression group was significantly shorter than that of the low NRP-1 expression group (<0.0001); NRP-1-depleted cells had dramatically lower rate of proliferation, migration and invasion compared to control cells (all <0.05). Depletion of NRP-1 significantly suppressed the growth of CaSki xenograft tumor in nude mice. The current study demonstrated that NRP-1 expression is significantly correlated with the progression of CC. Notably, high NRP-1 expression is correlated with a poorer survival in patients with CC, and has been shown to be an independent prognostic factor.