RESEARCH ARTICLE
Expression of p16 in Conjunctival Intraepithelial Neoplasia Does Not Correlate with HPV-Infection
Claudia Auw-Haedrich*, 1, Gottfried Martin1, Helga Spelsberg2, Rainer Sundmacher3, Nikolaus Freudenberg4, Philip Maier1, Thomas Reinhard1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 48
Last Page: 56
Publisher ID: TOOPHTJ-2-48
DOI: 10.2174/1874364100802010048
Article History:
Received Date: 17/1/2008Revision Received Date: 20/2/2008
Acceptance Date: 12/3/2008
Electronic publication date: 28/3/2008
Collection year: 2008

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The aim of our study was to identify the frequency of expression of p16INK4a (CDKN2A) and HPV (human papilloma virus) in different grades of conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).
Twelve specimens including CIN I (2), II (3), III (5), and CIN with beginning invasion (2), as well as 15 control specimens, were stained with antibodies against p16INK4a and MIB1. The presence of HPV was examined by PCR.
p16 as well as MIB1 were significantly elevated in CIN compared to control specimens (p<0.01) without correlation with the differentiation grade. Only two cases with CIN grade 3 contained HPV 16.
As few control specimens also showed increased p16INK4a expression, p16INK4a seems not to be a very reliable marker for the exact determination of CIN. It could serve as an additional diagnostic tool besides the morphological characterization. Our study suggested that p16INK4a elevation is not associated with HPV infection.