1. Immunostaining of different regions of the cervix and their relatedness to
HPV and Cervical cancer
Eric Hillpot, Han Deng, Sabikunnahar Bristy, Craig D. Woodworth
Department of Biology, Clarkson University
Contact: hillpoec@clarkson.edu 315-944-7244
Cervical cancer is a major cause of cancer death in women throughout the world and persistent infection
with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is the major risk factor for this disease.Over 90% of cervical cancers
originate from the cervical transformation zone (CTZ), a small anatomic region located between the ectocervix and
endocervix. It is unclear why the CTZ is highly susceptible to malignant conversion, and few studies have been
performed on cells isolated from this region. As a first step to understanding why the CTZ cells are so susceptible,
primary cells were cultured from each region of human cervix and characterized for the expression of intermediate
filament proteins of the keratin gene family. Cells were stained by monoclonal antibodies for keratin 14 (K14) or 18
(K18) using indirect immunofluorescence. ImageJ software was used to analyze images and to calculate (1) the
number of cells stained with K14 and/orK18 and (2) the intensities of both K14 and K18. Our primary results show
that ectocervical cells express keratin 14, endocervical cells express keratin 18, and cells from the CTZ express both
keratins. Future research includes separating labeled CTZ cells via flow cytometry.
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute and human tissue was
obtained from the Cooperative Human Tissue network.
Mentors: Craig D. Woodworth,Han Deng