J Gynecol Oncol | Volume 3, Issue 3 | Research Article | Open Access
Guerra F1, Rocher A1, Díaz L2, Palaoro L1*
1Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
2Department of Pathology, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
*Correspondance to: Luis Palaoro
Fulltext PDFThe cervical cancer is related to the presence of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) that interacts with the Wnt/Beta-Catenin and the PI3K/pAKT/mTOR signaling pathways. The Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) is frequent in the spread of carcinomas, ensuring mobility of the cells to distant places. 122 cervical surgical pieces were analyzed by immunohistochemistry in order to verify the EMT process in vivo in cervical cancer progression and the activation of Wnt/Beta-Catenin and EGFR/PI3K/pAKT/mTOR pathways. In total, 24% of the invasive cancers showed full activation of EGFR/PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. The characteristics of the fully activated Wnt/Beta-Catenin pathway (Beta-Catenin nuclear translocation and Cytoplasmic expression of mesenchymal markers) were not detected in our cases. HPV oncogenic proteins can activate various stages of the EGFR/PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and also destabilize key proteins for maintaining the integrity of intercellular junctions. Both processes could contribute to the development of malignancy, at least in a percentage of cases (24% in our series). mTOR is key in the modification of the cytoskeleton which allows the amoeboid mobility of cells in the invasion process of cervical neoplasia. The use of the term EMT may not always be appropriate for describing the diverse processes associated with tumor spread. Thus, the phenomenon of cervical cancer invasion could be considered as a “partial EMT”.
Cervical cancer; Epithelial-mesenchymal transition; PI3K/pAKT/mTOR signaling pathway; Wnt/Beta-Catenin signaling pathway
Guerra F, Rocher A, Díaz L, Palaoro L. Wnt/Beta-Catenin and EGFR/PI3K/ pAKT/mTOR Signaling Pathways and Their Relation with Cervical Cancer. J Gynecol Oncol. 2020; 3(3): 1035.