ABSTRACT
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with ano-genital and cervical cancer. Persistence of oncogenic HPV genotypes is a requirement for development and progression of malignancies. Although, >70% of women clear incident HPV infections, data on natural history and HPV immunology among men is limited. To evaluate cell-mediated immune responses to natural HPV infections among men, we assessed cytokine responses on PBMCs collected from men with persistent or cleared HPV. Men with HPV clearance and those with HPV persistence had increased odds (6-times and 3-times respectively) of mounting cytokine responses compared to HPV uninfected men. Th1 cytokines IFN-γ (5.1-fold) and IL-2 (4.2-fold) were significantly (pâ¯<â¯0.0001) upregulated among men with HPV clearance compared to HPV uninfected men. Among men with HPV clearance compared to those with persistent HPV infection, only IFN-γ (2.4-fold) and IL-2 (3.0-fold) were significantly (pâ¯<â¯0.0001) upregulated. Th1 cell-mediated cytokine response was associated with natural HPV clearance in men.
Subject(s)
Immunity, Cellular/immunology , Interferon-gamma/immunology , Interleukin-2/immunology , Papillomavirus Infections/immunology , Th1 Cells/immunology , Adult , Case-Control Studies , Cohort Studies , Cytokines , Disease Progression , Humans , Kenya , Leukocytes, Mononuclear , Male , Papillomaviridae/genetics , Papillomavirus Infections/virology , Prospective Studies , Up-Regulation , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Screening of blood and blood products for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is routinely performed using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the results confirmed by Western blot (WB). However, western blot is expensive and mostly performed in developed countries. A technique more superior or comparable to WB and adaptable to developing countries must be sought. In an effort to identify such a technique, this study determined the efficiency of indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) to detect antibodies to HIV-1. OBJECTIVE: To determine the accuracy and sensitivity of an in-house immunofluorescence assay (IFA) to detect antibodies to HIV-1 in plasma. DESIGN: A comparative study to evaluate the performance of indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and western blot (WB) techniques in the detection of antibodies to HIV-1. SETTING: Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Virus Research. The study was conducted between June and December 2001. METHODS: The evaluation of IFA as a technique for detecting antibodies to HIV-1 utilized a total of 400 samples. For these samples, IFA was compared with ELISA and particle agglutination (PA) (manuscript under preparation). Of the 400 samples, there were discrepant results in the three assays in only 36 samples. IFA was compared with Western blot (WB) to confirm the true HIV-1 serostatus in these 36 plasma specimens. The IFA technique used acetone-fixed HIV-1 infected MOLT-4 cells in one spot on a Teflon coated slide and uninfected MOLT-4 cells alone in a second spot to asses non-specific fluorescence. Western blot was performed according to the instructions of the manufacturer. RESULTS: The sensitivity and specificity of IFA based on 36 plasma specimens tested was 71.4% and 100% respectively. All samples that were HIV seronegative by WB were also HIV seronegative by IFA. However, two (5.6%) samples were HIV seronegative by IFA but seropositive by WB. CONCLUSION: The data obtained show that IFA can be used as a primary confirmatory test in Kenya.
