Toll-like receptor transcriptome in the HPV-positive cervical cancer microenvironment.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) directly infects cervical keratinocytes and interferes with TLR signalling. To shed light on the effect of HPV on upstream receptors, we evaluated TLRs 1-9 gene expression in HPV-negative normal and HPV-positive pre-malignant and malignant ex vivo cervical tissue. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed separately for epithelial and stromal tissue compartments.