Plasma retinol-binding protein in human uterine cervical dysplasias and cancer.
Plasma concentrations of retinol-binding protein (RBP) were measured in a cross-sectional study of asymptomatic normal menstruating women (n = 94) who obtained Pap smears and participated in a double-blinded nutritional survey. Controls (n = 45) were women with negative cervical cytology, normal colposcopy and no known gynecologic pathology or dysfunction. Cases (n = 49) were subjects with abnormal cytology and colposcopically directed biopsy that established cervical epithelial dysplasias histopathologically in the previous 12-month period. In addition, 8 women with cancer of the cervix were also investigated. The mean plasma concentration of RBP was significantly lower in cases than in controls (p less than 0.001). In normal females, the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle was increased. This increase was absent in the plasma of patients with cervical dysplasias (p less than 0.05). The data direct attention to a possible etiologic association between RBP in human cervical epithelial abnormalities and cancer.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y.
P R
PR
Palan
J
J
Basu
S L
SL
Romney
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008597:Menstrual Cycle; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D012177:Retinol-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D054839:Retinol-Binding Proteins, Plasma; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D014626:Vaginal Smears
D012177:Retinol-Binding Proteins; D054839:Retinol-Binding Proteins, Plasma