Background:

RET gene is an oncogene for thyroid cancer, in contrast as tumor suppressor gene in colon cancer.

Objective:

To know the role of RET gene in cervical cancer (CC) cells.

Materials and methods:

Tissue microarray harboring healthy, low- or high-squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL or HSIL), and CC tissues were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Nuclear cellular membranes were evaluated by an Olympus cellSens Dimension system. DNA from cervical cells and cervical-cell lines were assessed for detecting RET point mutation and methylation promoter status. GraphPad Prism ver. 9.3.1 software was used for the analysis.

Results:

Healthy cervical samples expressed RET protein, in contrast a quite similar proportion 75-90% of the LSIL or HSIL, or CC samples (squamous or adenocarcinoma) demonstrated a lack of RET expression. Cervical glandular intraepithelial lesions presented a similar expression pattern compared with the control group. The CC cells do not exhibit RET point mutation for exons 10 and 16, but the RET gene promoter was methylated.

Conclusions:

The lack of RET expression could correlate with the promoter methylated in the transformed cervical epithelial cells. These findings could suggest that RET gene acts as tumor suppressor gene in CC.