Antitumor immune cycle proteins and HPV status in patients with HSIL and cervical cancer

Background. Cervical cancer (CC) is a common malignant tumor among women worldwide. The anti-tumor immune cycle (AIC) is a necessary molecular mechanism that prevents the occurrence and progression of a tumor. It is known that during the development of CC, several mechanisms disrupt the AIC and contribute to tumor progression. Recent data show the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the AIC regulation as a mechanism for the emergence of tumor resistance to the anti-tumor immune response.

Aim. To study the levels of AIC proteins (sCD25, 4-1BB, B7.2, TGF-b1, CTLA-4, PD-L1, PD-1, Tim-3, LAG-3, Galectin-9, sCD27, PD-L2) in patients with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and CC, depending on the HPV status.

Materials and methods. A prospective study enrolled women of reproductive age with HSIL (n=53) and stage I–III СС (n=93). The control group included female volunteers without cervical abnormalities (n=30). The study material was the cervical epithelium. Study methods: flow cytometry, diagnostics using the polymerase chain reaction for HPV status and viral load. Statistical processing was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 25.0 software package using non-parametric statistics methods.

Results. The obtained data indicate an expression increase of AIC inhibitors: PD-1 and PD-L2 in patients with HPV infection and sCD27 in patients with mono-HPV infection. There were no significant differences in the levels of AIC proteins, depending on the HPV viral load in patients with HSIL and CC.

Conclusion. The effect of HPV infection and its type on regulating the expression of specific AIC proteins has been established, which is one of the mechanisms of tumor progression.