Transient receptor potential vanilloid 6 (TRPV6) has been shown to promote caner proliferation in several solid tumors, leading to unfavorable clinical outcomes. Our study aimed to elucidate the clinical significance of TRPV6 in patients with early-stage cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). The mRNA expression of TRPV6 was measured in 12 paired early-stage CSCC specimens and six cervical carcinoma cell lines using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Western blotting and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were employed to examine the protein expression level of TRPV6 in four paired specimens, 175 paraffin-embedded early-stage CSCC specimens, and 50 normal cervical tissues (NCTs), respectively. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate the clinical significance of TRPV6 expression. The expressions of TRPV6 mRNA and protein were both significantly downregulated in early-stage CSCC tissues and cervical cancer cell lines. IHC analyses revealed that TRPV6 was downregulated in 136 (77.7 %) of 175 early-stage CSCC specimens. Moreover, TRPV6 expression in early-stage CSCC was significantly correlated with the tumor stage (P < 0.001), tumor growth type (P < 0.001), tumor size (P = 0.008), and differentiation grade (P = 0.003). The early-stage CSCC patients with a low TRPV6 expression level had a short progress-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) duration. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified TRPV6 as an independent prognostic factor for early-stage CSCC patients' survival. We demonstrated that TRPV6 was downregulated in CSCC, which was correlated with unfavorable survival outcomes of early-stage CSCC patients. TRPV6 may be used as a novel prognostic marker for early-stage CSCC.
Keywords: Biomarker; Early-stage squamous cell cervical carcinoma; Prognosis; TRPV6.