title: Immunoglobulin-containing plasma cells recruited to cervical neoplasia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the number and isotype of immunoglobulin (Ig)-containing cells that infiltrate various stages of cervical neoplasia from no lesion to invasive cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  By three-color immunofluorescent microscopy, the number and isotype of stromal plasma cells were determined for 91 specimens representing a spectrum of cervical epithelial neoplasia as follows: no lesion (n = 12), koilocytic atypia (n = 13), mild dysplasia (n = 21), high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL; n = 22), and invasive carcinoma (n = 23).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Ig-positive cell counts were markedly increased under the low-grade SIL. Specifically, the mean number of IgG-positive plasma cells was significantly increased (P < .003) under the subepithelial stroma of mild dysplasia as compared with no SIL, high-grade SIL, or invasive carcinoma. These immunocyte infiltrates were clustered in the stroma beneath koilocytes, which also demonstrated IgG-positive intracellular staining.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low-grade cervical lesions are infiltrated by IgG plasma cells to a greater extent than high-grade or invasive cervical lesions, suggesting that antibody responses are preferentially recruited in early cervical neoplasia, giving credence to the concept that low-grade lesions represent a human papillomavirus infection of the cervix rather than a neoplastic condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, USA.
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pitts
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Crowley-Nowick
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Partridge
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gore
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mestecky
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis*; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D016246:Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D010950:Plasma Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G