Glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor expression in patients with cervical human papillomavirus infection

Introduction The progression of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the anogenital tract has been associated with the involvement of cells with regulatory properties. Evidence has shown that glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor (GITR) is an important surface molecule for the cha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
Main Authors: Cacilda Tezelli Junqueira Padovani, Camila Mareti Bonin, Ines Aparecida Tozetti, Alda Maria Teixeira Ferreira, Carlos Eurico dos Santos Fernandes, Izaias Pereira da Costa
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2013
Subjects:
Human papillomavirus
Immune response
Immunohistochemistry
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Arctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0029-2013
https://doaj.org/article/01db04438d0d4e1ebf74c177ce8cfa4f
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Summary:Introduction The progression of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the anogenital tract has been associated with the involvement of cells with regulatory properties. Evidence has shown that glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor (GITR) is an important surface molecule for the characterization of these cells and proposes that GITR ligand may constitute a rational treatment for many cancer types. We aimed to detect the presence of GITR and CD25 in cervical stroma cells with and without pathological changes or HPV infection to better understand the immune response in the infected tissue microenvironment. Methods We subjected 49 paraffin-embedded cervical tissue samples to HPV DNA detection and histopathological analysis, and subsequently immunohistochemistry to detect GITR and CD25 in lymphocytes. Results We observed that 76.9% of all samples with high GITR expression were HPV-positive regardless of histopathological findings. High GITR expression (77.8%) was predominant in samples with ≥1,000 RLU/PCB. Of the HPV-positive samples negative for intraepithelial lesion and malignancy, 62.5% had high GITR expression. High GITR expression was observed in both carcinoma and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) samples (p = 0.16). CD25 was present in great quantities in all samples. Conclusions The predominance of high GITR expression in samples with high viral load that were classified as HSIL and carcinoma suggests that GITR+ cells can exhibit regulatory properties and may contribute to the progression of HPV-induced cervical neoplasia, emphasizing the importance of GITR as a potential target for immune therapy of cervical cancer and as a disease evolution biomarker.

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