Abstract The association of high risk types Human papilloma virus(HR-HPV) with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and carcinoma are well known.P16^INK4a, a tumour suppressor protein suggested to be a surrogate marker forHR-HPV induced cervical neoplastic changes. To study was done to assess the expression status of p16^INK4a marker in CIN and cervical carcinoma. A study of 40 cases included cervical biopsies of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and carcinoma. Immunohistochemical study of these cases were done usingp16^INK4a marker.The intensity of staining and percentage of p16^INK4a positive cells were observed. The study of 40 cases included 28 cases of squamous cell carcinoma (70%), one case of adenocarcinoma (2.5%), five cases of CIN (12.5%) and other three cases were non-neoplastic lesions (7.5%). One case each of CIN2 and CIN 3 were p16^INK4amarker positive (2+). Among the 28 cases of squamous cell carcinoma majority showed 3+ positivity (>75% positive cells). One case of adenocarcinoma in the study showed positivity. The strong association between p16^INK4a and cervical carcinoma (squamous cell carcinoma) supports the predictive role of p16^INK4a study in supplement to the biopsy study for cases of CIN.

Key words: Human papilloma virus, p16^INK4a, Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, Cervical carcinoma.