Frequent Loss of Tumor Suppressor ARID1A Protein Expression in Adenocarcinomas/Adenosquamous Carcinomas of the Uterine Cervix

Objectives: Expression of ARID1A (the adenine, thymine-rich interactive domain 1A), a putative tumor suppressor, has recently been shown to be lost in several tumor types. This study investigated whether ARID1A expression was also lost in cervical squamous cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas/adenosquamous carcinomas. Methods: A total of 91 patients with cervical carcinoma were enrolled. Cervical carcinoma specimens were examined for ARID1A protein expression by immunohistochemistry. The correlations between the loss of ARID1A expression and clinicopathological characteristics, and prognosis were investigated. Results: Using immunohistochemistry, the frequency of loss of ARID1A expression in adenocarcinomas/adenosquamous carcinomas (31.1% [14/45]) was significantly higher than that in squamous cell carcinomas (6.5% [3/46]; P = 0.0017). There was no significant association between the loss of ARID1A expression and International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics staging, lymphovascular space invasion, lymph node metastasis, age, and Ki-67 LI in cervical adenocarcinomas/adenosquamous carcinomas. Loss of ARID1A expression was not correlated with shorter overall/disease-free survival in cervical adenocarcinomas/adenosquamous carcinomas. Conclusions: In conclusion, this study provides the first evidence of the frequent loss of ARID1A protein expression in cervical adenocarcinomas/adenosquamous carcinomas. No significant differences between ARID1A positive and negative cases were observed with respect to any clinicopathological features examined.