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Location and Density of Immune Cells in Precursor Lesions and Cervical Cancer

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Cancer Microenvironment

Abstract

Only a small proportion of women infected with Human Papillomavirus (HPV) develop cervical cancer. Host immune response seems to play a role eliminating the viral infection and preventing progression to cancer. Characterization of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in cervical pre-neoplastic lesions and cervical cancer may be helpful to understand the mechanisms that mediate this protection. The aim of this study was to determine if there are differences in the localization and density (cells/mm2) of CD8+ T-cells, CD4+ T-cells and Tregs (CD25 + Foxp3+) in cervical pre-neoplastic lesions and cervical cancer. Immunohistochemical analysis of sections of 96 (26 CIN1, 21 CIN2, 25 CIN3, and 24 SCC) samples revealed that regardless of CIN grades, CD8+ T-cells are more abundant than CD4+, CD25+ and Foxp3+ cells in both the stroma and epithelium. There was a higher density of CD8+ cells in the stroma of cervical cancer compared to CIN3 (OR = 4.20, 95% CI 1.2-15), CIN2 (OR = 7.86, 95% CI 1.7-36.4) and CIN1 (OR = 4.25, 95% CI 1.1-17). Studies evaluating whether these cells are recruited before or after cancer progression will be helpful to understand the role of these cells in the natural history of HPV-induced lesions.

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Abbreviations

HPV:

Human Papillomavirus

SCC:

Squamous cell carcinomas

IC:

Invasive Carcinoma

CIS:

Carcinoma in situ

CIN1:

Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia 1

CIN2:

Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia 2

CIN3:

Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia 3

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Acknowledgements

Astrid M. Bedoya is a recipient of a doctoral fellowship from Colciencias 2007. We also are grateful to Graciela Torres for her technical assistance, Dr German Osorio from Pathology Department of University of Antioquia and Fundación Valle del Lili and Dr. Alvaro Muñoz for his help on the statistical analysis. This study is funded by CODI–CPT 0914 Asociación de polimorfismos de genes de la respuesta inmune con cáncer cervical en la población de Antioquia. This study was part of a collaboration thru the Red Iberoamericana para la investigacion y prevencion del Cancer de cuello uterino financed by CYTED (CANCERVIX, Code P210RT0286)

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo Infección y Cáncer, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Antioquia, Cra 51D No. 62-29 Lab 283, Medellin, Colombia

    Astrid M. Bedoya, Armando Baena & Gloria I. Sanchez

  2. Escuela de Microbiología, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia

    Astrid M. Bedoya & Armando Baena

  3. Laboratorio de Patología, Fundación Valle del Lili, Cali, Colombia

    Roberto Jaramillo

  4. Departamento de Patología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Antioquia and Hospital Universitario San Vicente de Paúl, Medellin, Colombia

    Jorge Castaño & Natalia Olaya

  5. Department of Microbiology, Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Arnold H. Zea

  6. Prevention and Implementation Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France

    Rolando Herrero

Authors
  1. Astrid M. Bedoya
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  2. Roberto Jaramillo
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  8. Gloria I. Sanchez
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Correspondence to Gloria I. Sanchez.

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Bedoya, A.M., Jaramillo, R., Baena, A. et al. Location and Density of Immune Cells in Precursor Lesions and Cervical Cancer. Cancer Microenvironment 6, 69–77 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12307-012-0097-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12307-012-0097-8

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