c-myc gene amplification detected in preinvasive intraepithelial cervical lesions.

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the c-myc gene amplification process in cervical samples and to analyze the relationship between the activation of this proto-oncogene and the cytologic and/or histologic status. Thirty-four normal cervical samples and 105 abnormal cervical tissue scrapes, previously used for PAP or histopathologic diagnosis, were analyzed for c-myc gene amplification. Detection of c-myc gene amplification was performed using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method known as target arbitrarily primed-PCR (TAP-PCR). For c-myc amplification, significant differences were found between normal samples and samples presenting different grades of lesions (P<0.001). A significant difference between high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HG-SIL) and the other stages of cervical disease was also found (P<0.05). This study demonstrated that c-myc copy number increases according to the histologic grade of the lesion. These results could indicate that oncogene amplification takes place in preinvasive stages of cervical disease and could cooperate not only in tumor progression but also in cell transformation.