Objective To explore the expression and clinical significance of chemokine receptor 3 (CXCR3) and chemokine ligand 10(CXCL10) in low-grade cervical intraepithelial lesions, high-grade cervical lesions and cervical cancer.

Methods Cervical wax block specimens from 68 patients with cervical cancer, 50 patients with cervical intraepithelial lesions (including 28 patients with high-grade lesions and 22 patients with low-grade lesions) and 12 normal cervical wax block specimens were collected.Immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the expression of CXCR3 and CXCL10 in the above cervical tissues, and the expression differences among them were compared in low-grade cervical intraepithelial lesions, high-grade cervical intraepithelial lesions, cervical cancer tissues and normal cervical tissues.The relationship and correlation between the expression of CXCR3 and CXCL10 in cervical cancer tissue and the clinical pathological characteristics of patients were analyzed.

Results The expression of CXCR3 and CXCL10 in cervical tissues was increased with the severity of cervical lesions (P < 0.05).The positive expression rates of CXCR3 and CXCL10 were higher in cervical cancer tissues with high FIGO stage, low differentiation and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05 to P < 0.01).There was no statistically significant relationship between the positive expression rates of CXCR3 and CXCL10 and the patients' age and pathological type (P>0.05).The expression of CXCR3 and CXCL10 was positively correlated with cervical cancer (r=0.790, P < 0.05).

Conclusions The interaction between CXCR3 and CXCL10 may promote the occurrence and development of cervical lesions, as well as the progression, invasion and metastasis of cervical cancer.