Expression of Ki-67 in Cervical Epithelial Cells in Preneoplastic Lesions of Patients with AIDS

The objective of the present investigation was to study the expression of the proliferation marker Ki-67 in cervical intraepithelial lesions in women with AIDS. We studied 18 low-grade cervical intraepithelial lesions (Lo-CIN) and 8 high-grade cervical intraepithelial lesions (Hi-CIN ) in AIDS patients and 18 Lo-CIN and 14 Hi-CIN in patients from the general population. Positive Ki-67 nuclei were counted. A significantly higher number of Ki-67-positive cells (p < 0.001) was found in Lo-CIN of AIDS patients (mean 29.18 ± 10.44) as compared with Lo-CIN of general-population women (mean 17.08 ± 7.40), whereas no significant difference in positive Ki-67 nuclei was observed in the Hi-CIN of AIDS patients and of patients from the general population (p > 0.05). We conclude that the proliferative potential of cervical cells in Lo-CIN – as studied by the expression of the proliferation marker Ki-67 – is higher in AIDS patients than in the general population.