Ubiquitin-Specific Protease 22: A Novel Molecular Biomarker in Cervical Cancer Prognosis and Therapeutics

Ubiquitin-specific protease 22 (USP22) exhibits an important function in tumor progression and oncogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of USP22 and the association with its potential targets in patients with cervical cancer. To our knowledge, this is the first study that determines the relationship between USP22 expression and clinicopathological significance in cervical cancer. The immunohistochemistry results showed that USP22 protein was overexpressed in cervical cancer samples compared with normal cervical tissues (P < 0.001). Moreover, clinicopathological analysis showed that USP22 expression was highly related to International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, Ki67, lymph node metastasis, and histology grade. The results of Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients with high USP22 expression had significantly shorter overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) than patients with low expression of USP22 (P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that USP22 expression status was an independent prognostic marker for both OS and DFS of patients with cervical cancer. It is suggested that USP22 overexpression may be associated with poor prognosis in cervical cancer. It may represent a novel prognostic biomarker or a target for improving the treatment efficiency of patients with cervical cancer.