title: The underlying cause of cervical cancer in oral contraceptive users may be related to cervical mucus changes.
abstract: Oral contraceptives (OCs) remain among the most effective reversible methods of birth control available today, providing almost 100% effectiveness with an impressively high margin of safety and other important health benefits. However, concerns have been raised about the role that the hormones in OCs might play in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer. Evidence shows that long-term use of OCs (five or more years) may be associated with an increased risk of cancer of the cervix. The mechanism of increased risk of cervical cancer in OCs users has long been debated, and remains uncertain. Our hypothesis is that scanty, thick, and highly viscous cervical mucus obtained in OCs users intimately involved in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer. Possibly, this architecture of cervical mucus may modulate and prolong the effect of carcinogenic agents, which have been carried by coitus and stored in posterior vaginal fornix, on squamocolumnar junction of cervix by not permitting them to be removed because of its highly viscous pattern. The role of cervical mucus changes by means of specific mucin protein changes on the pathophysiology of cervical cancer in OCs users should be investigated.
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Karadeniz Technical University, School of Medicine, Trabzon, Turkey.
authors: Suleyman
authors: S
authors: Guven
authors: Cavit
authors: C
authors: Kart
authors: Emine Seda
authors: ES
authors: Guvendag Guven
authors: G Serdar
authors: GS
authors: Gunalp
mesh_terms: D002582:Cervix Mucus / Q000378:metabolism*; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009077:Mucins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012306:Risk; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D009077:Mucins