Cytokine profile of cervical mucus at different forms of papillomavirus infection

Aim. To study the levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in cervical secretion in females with cervical epithelial dysplasia and latent papillomavirus infection. Methods. The study included 120 females aged 20 to 40 years with cervical papillomavirus infection, who were assigned to two groups using «case-control» method. The first group included 60 females with latent disease, the second group - 60 females with mild and moderate cervical epithelial dysplasia (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia stages I and II). Cytokine levels in cervical secretion were measured by ELISA using «ProCon» test system. Results. ELISA test showed increased levels of interleukin-4 and interleukin-10 (43 [21; 74] and 48 [12; 88] pg/ml, respectively) and decreased levels of interleukin-2 (18.5 [5.5; 27.5] pg/ml), interleukin-6 (0.6 [0.06; 0.9] pg/ml), tumor necrosis factor alpha (88.5 [0; 123] pg/ml), interferon γ (2 [0; 4] pg/ml) in cervical secretion of females with cervical epithelial dysplasia compared to females with latent papillomavirus infection. Thus, females with cervical epithelial dysplasia showed increased levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines: interleukin-4 - by 2.7 times and interleukin-10 - by 2.4 times compared to females with latent disease, while levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines was decreased as following: interleukin-2 - by 1.4 times, interleukin-6 - by 4.5 times, tumor necrosis factor alpha - by 1.8 times, interferon γ - by 6.3 times (p <0.05). Conclusion. Imbalance of immune response cytokine regulation with anti-inflammatory cytokines prevailing might be an important factor facilitating persistence of papillomavirus in cervical epithelium and contributing to cervical epithelial dysplasia onset and progression.

cytokines, cervical mucus, human papillomavirus, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (displasia)