Downregulation of glutathione peroxidase 3 is associated with lymph node metastasis and prognosis in cervical cancer

Glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPX3) is a member of the glutathione peroxidase family of selenoproteins and is one of the key defensive enzymes against oxidative damages to host cells. Downregulation of GPX3 due to its promoter hypermethylation has been documented in several different types of cancer, indicating that GPX3 functions as a possible tumor suppressor. In the present study, we showed that GPX3 is also significantly downregulated in cervical cancer tissues compared to normal cervical tissues by qRT-PCR analyses and immunohistostainings. GPX3 expression was significantly related to lymph node metastasis and prognosis in cervical cancer patients. Treatment of cervical cancer cells with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine restored the expression of GPX3 and methylation-specific PCR (MSP) confirmed the CpG methylation of the GPX3 gene. Our results indicate that promoter methylation is one of the major causes of GPX3 downregulation in cervical cancer and GPX3 could serve as a predictive biomarker for lymph node metastasis and prognosis of cervical cancer.