The expression level of paraoxonases in cervical dysplastic processes

Objective. To study the level of expression of paraoxonases (PONs) in the cervical epithelium of healthy women and that of female patients with cervical dysplastic processes. To comparatively analyze the expression level of PON1, PON2, and PON3 between the groups. To identify the relationship of changes in the level of expression of PONs to the development of cervical dysplastic processes. Subjects and methods. The investigation covered 47 patients who were divided into 3 groups: 1) 16 patients with CIN I-II; 2) 17 patients with CIN II-III; 3) 14 healthy women. The expression of paraoxonases was analyzed by real-time PCR using primers specific to these genes. Results. The authors found a significant increase in the expression level of the PON3 gene in the cervical epithelium of women with cervical dysplastic processes compared to the control group. There were no significant differences in the level of PON2 expression between the two groups. PON1 gene expression was unidentified in all the samples. Conclusion. During the investigation, the authors found a clear relationship between the higher expression of PON3 and the presence of CIN. The findings suggest that the enzyme PON3 may play a role in the development of dysplastic processes; therefore, determination of the level of PON3 expression may possess certain clinical potential in the diagnosis of precancerous cervical diseases. Thus, further researches in this area are required to develop new prognostic markers for the diagnosis of cervical dysplasia and diagnostic markers for the transition of CIN to cancer, which will be able to improve the quality of early diagnosis of precancerous diseases of the cervix and to optimize differentiated treatment policy. © 2020, Bionika Media Ltd. All rights reserved.