Article
Evaluation of the cervicovaginal environment in asymptomatic Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 infected women
Registro en:
FIRMINO, Alisson de Aquino et al. Evaluation of the cervicovaginal environment in asymptomatic Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 infected women. Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases, v. 23, n. 1, p. 27-33, 2019.
1413-8670
10.1016/j.bjid.2019.02.001
Autor
Firmino, Alisson de Aquino
Martins, Adenilda Lima Lopes
Gois, Luana Leandro
Paixão, Taiane Silva
Batista, Everton da Silva
Castro Filho, Bernardo Galvão
Grassi, Maria Fernanda Rios
Resumen
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (BOL0575/2015). This study wasfinanced in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is sexually transmitted and causes persistent infection. This virus induces activation of the immune system and production of inflammatory cytokines. This study aimed to assess the cytokine profile and cytopathological findings in the cervicovaginal fluid of asymptomatic HTLV-1-infected women. Methods: HTLV-1-infected and uninfected women were selected at the Centro de Atendi-mento ao Portador de HTLV in Salvador-Brazil. None of the included HTLV-1-infected womenreported any HTLV-1-associated diseases. All volunteers underwent gynecological exam-ination to collect cervicovaginal fluid. Cytokine quantification was performed using theCytometric Bead Array (CBA) Human Th1/Th2/Th17 kit. Light microscopy was used to eval-uate cervicovaginal cytopathology. In addition, proviral load in cervicovaginal fluid andperipheral blood was measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.Results: 112 women (63 HTLV-1-infected and 49 uninfected) were evaluated. No differenceswere found with respect to cytopathological cervicovaginal findings between the groups.IL-2, TNF, IL-4, IL-10, and IL-17 levels were significantly higher in cervicovaginal fluid of theHTLV-1-infected women than in uninfected women (p < 0.05). Conversely, IFN- was foundto be lower in the HTLV-1-infected women (p < 0.001) compared to uninfected individuals.Cervicovaginal proviral load was detectable in 53% of the HTLV-1-infected women and wasfound to be consistently lower than the proviral load in peripheral blood.Conclusions: HTLV-1 infection induces immune activation in cervicovaginal environment.