Journal of General Virology, Vol 80, 409-417, Copyright © 1999 by Society for General Microbiology

ARTICLES

Immune responses against human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 virus-like particles in a cohort study of women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. II. Systemic but not local IgA responses correlate with clearance of HPV-16

HJ Bontkes, TD de Gruijl, JM Walboomers, JT Schiller, J Dillner, TJ Helmerhorst, RH Verheijen, RJ Scheper and CJ Meijer
Department of Pathology, Free University Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

To investigate whether there is an association between local or systemic IgG and IgA responses against human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 virus-like particles (VLP) containing L1 and L2 and the possible influence of these responses on clearance of HPV-16 and its associated lesions, cervical mucus samples from 125 patients and plasma samples from 100 patients, all participating in a non-intervention cohort study of women with abnormal cytology, were analysed. The results show that local IgG and IgA HPV-16 VLP-specific antibodies do not correlate with virus clearance. However, systemic IgG responses were more frequently detected in patients with a persistent infection (11/24) compared with patients with cleared HPV-16 infections (3/28, P = 0.006). Furthermore, the ultimate development of high-grade lesions was associated with systemic VLP-specific IgG reactivity (P = 0.026). By contrast, systemic IgA responses were correlated with virus clearance (7/28 clearance compared with 1/24 persistence patients, P = 0.06). This correlation was statistically significant when only those clearance patients who tested HPV-16 DNA-positive at more than one visit were included in the analysis (5/11 compared with 1/24, P = 0.007). As these systemic IgA responses were not accompanied by local IgA responses, the systemic IgA responses in HPV-16 clearance patients are suggested to be a by-product of a successful cellular immune response induced at the local lymph nodes, mediated by cytokines.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. J. Marais, D. Constant, B. Allan, H. Carrara, M. Hoffman, S. Shapiro, C. Morroni, and A.-L. Williamson Cervical Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection and HPV Type 16 Antibodies in South African Women J. Clin. Microbiol., February 1, 2008; 46(2): 732 - 739. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Dillon, T. Sasagawa, A. Crawford, J. Prestidge, M. K. Inder, J. Jerram, A. A. Mercer, and M. Hibma Resolution of cervical dysplasia is associated with T-cell proliferative responses to human papillomavirus type 16 E2 J. Gen. Virol., March 1, 2007; 88(3): 803 - 813. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Chen, P. Sehr, T. Waterboer, I. Leivo, M. Pawlita, A. Vaheri, and L.-M. Aaltonen Presence of DNA of Human Papillomavirus 16 but No Other Types in Tumor-Free Tonsillar Tissue J. Clin. Microbiol., March 1, 2005; 43(3): 1408 - 1410. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Y. Studentsov, G. Y. F. Ho, M. A. Marks, R. Bierman, and R. D. Burk Polymer-Based Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Using Human Papillomavirus Type 16 (HPV16) Virus-Like Particles Detects HPV16 Clade-Specific Serologic Responses J. Clin. Microbiol., July 1, 2003; 41(7): 2827 - 2834. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. E. Cameron, I. V. Snowhite, A. K. Chaturvedi, and M. E. Hagensee Human Papillomavirus-Specific Antibody Status in Oral Fluids Modestly Reflects Serum Status in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Positive Individuals Clin. Vaccine Immunol., May 1, 2003; 10(3): 431 - 438. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. M. Burd Human Papillomavirus and Cervical Cancer Clin. Microbiol. Rev., January 1, 2003; 16(1): 1 - 17. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. de Gruijl, H. Bontkes, J. Walboomers, P Coursaget, M. Stukart, C Dupuy, E Kueter, R. Verheijen, T. Helmerhorst, M. Duggan-Keen, et al. Immune responses against human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 virus-like particles in a cohort study of women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. I. Differential T-helper and IgG responses in relation to HPV infection and disease outcome J. Gen. Virol., February 1, 1999; 80(2): 399 - 408. [Abstract]