title: Interferons and their receptors in human papillomavirus lesions of the uterine cervix.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In this study we analyzed the immunohistochemical expression of specific types of interferon (IFN) in human papillomavirus (HPV) associated cervical lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Reactivity to anti-IFN-alpha,-beta and -gamma and to anti-IFN-alpha/beta- and gamma-receptors was tested in 33 cervical punch biopsies from 24 HPV-infected women and nine healthy controls. The HPV-infected cases were subdivided into low-risk and high-risk groups, according to the known "oncogenic" potential of the HPV-types detected by PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cervical epithelium and stroma in HPV-negative as well as low-risk HPV-positive samples were diffusely stained by anti IFN-alpha, beta and gamma antibodies. In contrast, a significantly lower percentage of high-risk HPV-infected tissues was immunoreactive to IFN-beta in the stroma and IFN-gamma in the epithelium. There were no relevant differences between control and HPV cases in the expression of IFN-receptors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We show that a decreased production of some specific classes of IFN is associated with high-risk-type HPV lesions suggesting an important role of IFN distribution patterns in the pathogenesis of HPV lesions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathological Anatomy and Histology, University of Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cintorino
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Tripodi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Romagnoli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ietta
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Paulesu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000032:analysis; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000032:analysis; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000032:analysis; D007372:Interferons / Q000032:analysis*; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017471:Receptors, Interferon / Q000032:analysis*; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha; D017471:Receptors, Interferon; D016899:Interferon-beta; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D007372:Interferons