[Secretory IgA of the cervical mucus in neoplastic and nonneoplastic conditions of the uterine cervix]. / IgA secretorie del muco cervicale in condizioni neoplastiche e non neoplastiche della cervice uterina.

In 39 women affected by cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) concentration of the cervical mucus secretory IgA (sIgA) was significantly higher than in 414 controls matched for age, reproductive status and smoking habit (196 healthy women; 109 with "specific" and "aspecific" cervicitis or cervico-vaginitis; 51 with benign epithelial disorders of the cervix; 40 with adenomatous cervical polyp and 18 with early invasive exocervical squamous carcinoma). CIN carried the highest proportion of cases with sIgA detectable or beyond the cut-off value and sIgA concentration was inversely related to CIN grade. Present data confirm our preliminary investigation on the cervical total IgA and explain that any increased levels of these IgA are induced by the secretory and not serum fraction of this immunoglobulin. We still don't know the exact meaning and value of the present results. It is only possible to suppose that they are the expression of a vigorous local immune activation adverse to CIN, which is elevated for as long as the architecture of cervical glandular epithelia is preserved.

Alexithymia, immunity and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: replication.

BACKGROUND: In a previous study [Psychother Psychosom 1994;61:199-204] we investigated the relationship between alexithymia, carcinogenesis and immunity in a group of women who were unconscious sufferers from precancerous lesions of the cervix (CIN). The results of this study showed a high level of association between alexithymia and CIN and, an even more interesting fact, between alexithymia and reduced levels of immunity. METHODS: The aim of the present study is to check the results of the previous one by testing a larger group (43 women affected by cervical dysplasia and 67 healthy women) and by the use of a self-administered test for detection of alexithymia, the well-validated Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). RESULTS: The results confirm that women suffering from CIN have higher average TAS-20 ratings (55) than normal women (47.32) and that the level of alexithymia detected in the group of women suffering from dysplasia (42.5%) is higher than that of normal women (12.85%). Moreover, the present study confirms that alexithymic women have lower rates of a number of lymphocyte subsets than non-alexithymic women. CONCLUSIONS: This study fully confirms the results of our previous work and those of a number of other studies: (1) personality might be one of the factors jointly responsible for the outbreak of cancer; (2) the immune system appears to play an important part as a mediator between personality and cancer.