Histologically, CC can be characterized by two different sub-categories i.e. (i) invasive squamous cell carcinomas (ISCC) which are frequent and covers 85–90% of CC cases (ii) adenocarcinomas (ADC) which are relatively rare and comprises only 10–15% cases. The CC develops progression of precancerous lesions; called cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 1–3 or squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL).
A Recent study published in nature and titled, ”
Jagged-1 induced molecular alterations in HPV associated invasive squamous cell and adenocarcinoma of the human uterine cervix
This study describes the role of Jagged-1 in context to HPV infection, in the pathogenesis of different histological subtypes of cervical carcinoma. It provides the molecular circuitry regulating Notch signaling and a novel therapeutic opportunity of JAG1 ablation, aiding clinicians.
In conclusion, our findings excavate the understanding of JAG1 driven Notch signaling events in HPV associated progression of CC. JAG1 expression in the nucleus denotes the transcription of JAG1 gene due to NICD and HPV-16 signaling to TFs resulting in JAG1 protein in nucleus. However, JAG1 expression in cytoplasm clarifies its translocation from nucleus to cytoplasm which in-turn activates the Notch signaling via binding to Notch-3, hence, acting as a positive feedback loop. Thus, it provides a legitimate target for CC therapy in the hope it might lead to the development of such tailored individualized therapy, as well as characterizing its biological functions in the cells which may be sufficient to abolish the neoplastic phenotype. This may help clinicians in characterizing patients when selecting for treatment of such cancer, by developing chemotherapeutic and combination therapies to interfere with cancer invasion and metastasis. Further validations at an RNA transcript level by RNA Seq can be done in future studies. In addition, studies are desired to assess JAG1 ablation as an adjuvant treatment to existing and currently ineffective chemotherapeutic agents.
