Immunohistochemistry with antibody to the LA-1 oncogene as a prognostic marker in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

Previous studies with antibody to a synthetic peptide designated LA-1 identified a 60-kDa protein in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive cancer tissues. To determine whether these findings are of clinical significance cervical tissues from 223 patients with squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) or invasive carcinoma and 39 normal healthy cervical tissues were stained with antibody to LA-1 using the immunoperoxidase assay. Tissues from 52 patients with squamous carcinomas at other sites were used as controls. Staining was respectively observed in 46.4, 56.5, and 64.7% of patients with low-grade SIL, high-grade SIL, and invasive cancer. It was localized in the atypical epithelium involving a progressively larger extent of epithelium as a function of increased pathologic grade. Only 10.3% of the normal cervical tissues stained with anti-LA-1 antibody. Twenty-five patients that were lost to follow-up for 2-5 years after the original diagnosis were studied at the time of diagnosis (1 degree biopsy) and when they returned to the clinic (2 degrees biopsy). In the follow-up series, LA-1 staining was observed in both biopsies from 9/12 patients that progressed to a higher degree of atypia, while 9/11 patients whose lesions remained stationary were LA-1 negative. Our studies suggest that LA-1 might be a useful biological marker of cervical neoplasia.