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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, September 1999, p. 751-755, Vol. 6, No. 5
Department of
Pediatrics1 and Department of Laboratory
Medicine,2 University of California, San
Francisco, California 94143
Received 15 March 1999/Returned for modification 22 April
1999/Accepted 24 June 1999
The host's immune response to cervical human papillomavirus (HPV)
infection is poorly understood. In a longitudinal cohort of women with
cervical HPV infections, defined by PCR-based HPV DNA testing, we used
exfoliated cervical cells and reverse transcription-PCR to examine the
cervical mucosal mRNA expression of cytokines involved in regulating
cell-mediated immunity. We identified seven HPV-positive subjects who
were found to have cleared their HPV infections 4 months later. In all
seven, a T-helper type 1 (Th1) cytokine pattern (expression of gamma
interferon and absence of interleukin-4) preceded clearance. The more
variable cytokine patterns seen in HPV-negative subjects suggest that
the Th1 pattern in the women with subsequent clearance was a response
to the HPV infection. This contention is supported by additional
cross-sectional data showing a Th1 pattern in a majority of
HPV-positive women. This study establishes a feasible means for
assessing local cytokine expression in the cervical milieu and
demonstrates that a Th1 cytokine response is associated with subsequent
clearance of cervical HPV infection.
1071-412X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Th1 Cytokine Patterns in Cervical Human
Papillomavirus Infection
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: University of
California San Francisco, Department of Pediatrics, Division of
Adolescent Medicine, Box 1374, 513 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco, CA
94143. Phone: (415) 476-3260. Fax: (415) 502-1222. E-mail:
mscott{at}itsa.ucsf.edu.
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