Tumour necrosis factor microsatellite association with human papillomavirus cervical infection
- 1Department of Pathology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, 14049–900, Ribeirão Preto, SP–Brazil
- 2Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto
- 3Division of Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto
- 4Department of Genetics, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, 14049–900, Ribeirão Preto, SP–Brazil; alsimoes@fmrp.usp.br
- cervical scrapings
- cytokines
- human papillomavirus
- microsatellites
- tumour necrosis factor
- polymerase chain reaction
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in the female population worldwide, and human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA has been isolated from more than 90% of these carcinomas. Immunoregulatory/antitumour mechanisms include cytokines that interfere directly with HPV harbouring cells. Among these cytokines, tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) is released by HPV infected cells and inhibits the growth of transformed cell lines.1
TNFα is a proinflammatory/antitumour cytokine that is indispensable to the inflammatory response. The TNF locus contains several polymorphic areas, including five microsatellite markers—a, b, c, d, and e—which contain 14, 7, 2, 7, and 3 alleles, respectively. These microsatellites are associated with different degrees of TNFα secretion, and are related to a greater susceptibility to …
