CORRESPONDENCE

Tumour necrosis factor microsatellite association with human papillomavirus cervical infection

R T Simões¹, J S R Bettini¹, E G Soares¹, G Duarte², M A G Gonçalves³, A L Simões⁴

¹ Department of Pathology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, 14049–900, Ribeirão Preto, SP–Brazil
² Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto
³ Division of Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto
⁴ Department 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

Keywords: cervical scrapings; cytokines; human papillomavirus; microsatellites; tumour necrosis factor; polymerase chain reaction

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

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 (TNF) is released by HPV infected cells and inhibits the growth of transformed cell lines.¹

TNF 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 TNF secretion, and are related to a greater susceptibility to developing autoimmune and infectious diseases. A recent study reported several associations between TNF microsatellites and cancer, among other diseases.² However, up to now, the association of these markers with HPV and the progression to . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Simoes, R. T., Goncalves, M. A. G., Donadi, E. A., Simoes, A. L., Bettini, J. S. R., Duarte, G., Quintana, S. M., Carvalho, M. W. P., Soares, E. G. (2005). Association of Tumor Necrosis Factor a-2 and a-8 Microsatellite Alleles with Human Papillomavirus and Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions among Women in Brazil. J. Clin. Microbiol. 43: 3932-3937 [Abstract] [Full Text]