Oral Immunoglobulin Levels are Not a Good Surrogate for Cervical Immunoglobulin Levels.

Background: We sought to determine whether oral secretions could be used as a surrogate for cervical secretions for monitoring cervical immunoglobulin (Ig) levels. To do so, we examined (1) whether oral IgG and IgA levels correlated with those observed at the cervix, and (2) whether time of menstrual cycle and other factors previously reported to influence cervical Ig levels were associated with oral IgG and IgA levels.

Methods: We obtained oral samples from a group of 85 Costa Rican woman 25-35 years of age measured at three time points during one menstrual cycle.

Increased plasma levels of adipokines and inflammatory markers in older women with persistent HPV infection.

We observed diminished lymphoproliferation to multiple stimuli in older women with persistent cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Adipokines are a class of inflammatory cytokines that are altered in some persistent infections. The objective was to compare the level of adipokines and inflammatory cytokines in heparinized plasma from women with persistent HPV cervical infection (Cases, N=50, oversampled for their weak lymphoproliferation responses) with women with no evidence of persistent HPV cervical infection (Controls, N=50, oversampled for their strong lymphoproliferation responses).

Elevated systemic levels of inflammatory cytokines in older women with persistent cervical human papillomavirus infection.

Background: Defects in lymphoproliferative responses to mitogens/antigens in women >45 years old with a persistent type-specific human papillomavirus (HPV) infection have been reported.

Methods: To determine whether these defects were associated with altered cytokine profiles, plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) culture supernatants from 50 cases (oversampled for their reduced lymphoproliferative ability) and 50 uninfected controls (oversampled for their robust lymphoproliferative ability) were examined for 24 cytokines using multiplexed bead-based immunoassays and ELISA.

Results: The following plasma cytokines were significantly increased in cases relative to controls (cases versus controls; median pg/mL): interleukin (IL)-6, 393.