Abstract: Objective To investigate the differential expressions of nucleolin in invasive cervical squamous cell carcinoma,
cervical intraepithelial neoplasms (CIN) and normal cervical epithelial tissues and explore the role of nucleolin in the
carcinogenesis and progression of cervical squamous cell carcinoma. Methods Fifty specimens of invasive cervical squamous
cell carcinoma, 65 specimens of CIN, and 60 adjacent normal cervical epithelial tissue specimens were examined
immunohistochemically for nucleolin expression. The correlation of nucleolin expression levels with histological grades of
invasive cervical squamous cell carcinoma and CIN were analyzed. Results The specimens of invasive cervical squamous cell
carcinoma showed a significantly higher positivity rate for nucleolin expression than CIN and normal cervical epithelial
tissues, and the rate in CIN tissues was significantly higher than that in normal cervical epithelial tissues (P<0.01). The
expression level of nucleolin was significantly higher in invasive cervical squamous cell carcinoma than in CIN and normal
cervical epithelia tissues, and higher in CIN than in normal cervical epithelia tissues, whose immunostaining scores were 7.6±
0.3, 6.1±0.2, and 3.0±0.2, respectively (P<0.01). The mean nucleolin immunostaining score was significantly higher in poorly
and moderately differentiated than in highly differentiated cervical squamous cell carcinoma (7.9 vs 7.1, P<0.01), and higher in
high grade CIN than in low grade CIN tissues (6.0 vs 4.0, P<0.01). Conclusions Overexpression of nucleolin plays an important
role during carcinogenesis of cervical squamous cell carcinoma and is positively correlated with tumor progression of CIN and
cervical squamous cell carcinoma.