C-myc proto-oncogene expression and prognosis in early carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

Expression of the c-myc gene was studied by northern blot and slot blot hybridisation in 72 specimens of stage I or II squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix. In 25 of the 72 tumours c-myc proto-oncogene was overexpressed (ie, at levels 4-20 times higher than in normal tissues). Patients whose tumours showed c-myc overexpression had an eight-fold greater incidence of early relapse than the other patients (p = 0.001). The 18-month relapse-free survival rates were, respectively, 49% and 90% for these two groups of patients.