Abstract
BackgroundDespite comparable screening rates for precancerous lesions, higher incidence and mortality related to cervical cancer in minority women persists. Recent evidence suggests that minority women with precancerous cervical lesions harbor a wider range of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes, many of these distinct from HPV16/18, those most commonly found in Caucasian women. The goal of the analysis was to determine if inflammatory cytokines and chemokines varied by HPV 16/18 versus other genotypes in cervical cancer tissues from Tanzanian women.MethodsHPV genotypes and concentrations of chemokines and cytokines were measured from homogenized fresh tumor tissue of thirty-one women with invasive cervical cancer (ICC). Risk factors for cervical cancer including age, parity, hormonal contraceptive use and cigarette smoking were obtained by questionnaire. Generalized linear models were used to evaluate differences between chemokines/cytokine levels in women infected with HPV16/18 and those infected with other HPV genotypes.ResultsAfter adjusting for age, parity and hormonal contraceptives, IL-17 was found significantly more frequently in invasive cervical cancer samples of women infected with HPV16/18 compared to women infected with other HPV genotypes (p = 0.033). In contrast, higher levels for granular macrophage colony-stimulating factor (p = 0.004), IL-10 (p = 0.037), and IL-15 (p = 0.041) were found in ICC tissues of women infected with genotypes other than HPV16/18 when compared to those of women infected with HPV16/18.ConclusionsWhile the small sample size limits inference, our data suggest that infection with different HPV genotypes is associated with distinct pro-inflammatory cytokine expression profiles; whether this explains some of the racial differences observed in cervical cancer is still unclear. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13027-015-0005-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Despite comparable screening rates for precancerous lesions, higher incidence and mortality related to cervical cancer in minority women persists
We previously found among African women that human papillomavirus (HPV) 31, 35, and 45 in addition to HPV 16 and 18, were the genotypes most frequently found in invasive cervical cancer (ICC) cases [8]
Cancer tissue from women not infected with HPV 16 or 18 had higher concentrations of GMCSF (p = 0.004), IL10 (p = 0.037), and IL15 (p = 0.041), when compared to those of women infected with HPV16/18 (Figure 1), after adjusting for age, parity and hormonal contraception
Summary
Despite comparable screening rates for precancerous lesions, higher incidence and mortality related to cervical cancer in minority women persists. Reasons for continued racial/ethnic disparities in ICC incidence and mortality are still unclear, published data in the last few years suggest that among women with precancerous lesions, African Americans may harbor human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes distinct from those found in European American women. While HPV 16 was found in 73% of the tissue samples in those ICC cases with multiple infections, and HPV 35 and 45 were found in 33%, and HPV 18 in 21% of ICC tissue samples, it is possible that co-infection with high-risk (HR)-HPV 35 and 45 may have influenced progression to ICC in these women These findings raise the possibility that different immune responses to persistent infection with distinct HR-HPV genotypes may explain some of the ICC racial/ethnic disparities observed worldwide [9]
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