Upregulation of Tiam1 contributes to cervical cancer disease progression and indicates poor survival outcome

T lymphoma invasion and metastasis 1 (Tiam1), a guanine nucleotide exchange factor, is involved in the tumorigenesis of a number of malignancies. This study was aimed to explore the role of Tiam1 in cervical cancer progression, and evaluate the prognostic values. Tiam1 protein expression levels were detected by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining in 174 cervical cancer tissues, 92 of CINs (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) and 32 of normal cervical epithelia tissues. Clinicopathological parameters and overall survival data were collected and compared between different Tiam1 statuses. The role of Tiam1 in cervical cancer proliferation, migration and angiogenesis were detected using si-RNA (small interfering RNA) transfection. In results, Tiam1 protein showed a cytoplasmic and nuclear staining pattern in cervical cancer tissues. The strongly positive expression of Tiam1 protein was observed in 51.72% (90/174) of cervical cancers, which was significantly higher than in CINs and normal cervical epithelia tissues (9.38%, 3/32). High Tiam1 protein expression was closely associated with advanced clinical stage, differentiation, lymph node (LN) metastasis, HPV infection and lower overall survival (OS) rates in cervical cancer. Multivariate analysis indicated that Tiam1 was an independent prognostic factor, along with clinical stage, in patients with cervical cancer. Additionally, Tiam1 depletion by RNAi in cervical cancer cells significantly decreased cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that upregulation of Tiam1 contributes to cervical cancer disease progression and indicates poor survival outcome.