Figure 1

Immunohistochemistry of ECM proteins in the normal cervix and in cervical cancer: H&E staining (A, B). Smooth muscle actin reaction is detectable in the smooth muscle layer of small blood vessels in the normal subepithelial stoma (C), or the activated myofibroblasts in the stroma of cervical cancer (D). In the normal tissue laminin-1 is confined to the basement membrane of epithelial layer and small blood vessels (E), whereas in the tumor tissue multiple layers are formed around the tumor nests, filling up the stromal regions (F). Laminin-5 is present exclusively in the basement membrane of normal epithelium as a single layer (G), whereas except for some abortive basement membrane-like formations, the immunopositivity resides in the cytoplasm of tumor cells (H). Fibronectin appears as homogenous staining in the connective tissue of normal cervix (I), the reaction is distributed in the tumorous stroma in a similar manner (J). Scale bars 100 μm.