Role of apoptotic index, mitotic index and MIB-1 antibody expression as biomarkers in preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions of uterine cervix

Background: In India, cervical cancer ranks as the 2nd most frequent cancer among women. This study was carried out to study the role of apoptotic index (AI), mitotic index (MI) and MIB-1 labelling index (LI) as biomarkers in preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions of uterine cervix.Methods: Total of 90 cases was studied, over a period of two years, in the Department of Pathology as well as Obstetrics and Gynaecology, LLRM Medical College and associated SVBP Hospital, Meerut, India. Apoptotic Index and Mitotic Index were calculated on H & E stained sections in all the 90 cases while ki-67 immunostaining was done only on 44.44% (40/90) cases.Results: Apoptotic Index, Mitotic Index and MIB-1 expression were found to increase as the grade of lesion increased from cervical dysplasia to invasive cervical carcinoma. In CIN-I, MIB-1 positive cells were confined to lower one-third of ectocervix and full thickness was involved in CIN-III.Conclusion: We found proliferative indices (Mitotic index and MIB-1 labelling index) and Apoptotic index useful in determining the grading of dysplasia and cervical carcinoma.Key words: Cervical dysplasia, Cervical carcinoma, Apoptotic index, Mitotic index, MIB-1 Labelling inde