Immune responses against human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 virus-like particles in a cohort study of women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. II. Systemic but not local IgA responses correlate with clearance of HPV-16

• Published in: Journal of general virology 1999-02, Vol.80 (2), p.409-417
• Main Authors: Bontkes, HJ, de Gruijl, TD, Walboomers, JM, Schiller, JT, Dillner, J, Helmerhorst, TJ, Verheijen, RH, Scheper, RJ, Meijer, CJ
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Antibodies, Viral - biosynthesis; Capsid - immunology; Capsid Proteins; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia - complications; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia - immunology; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia - virology; Cohort Studies; DNA, Viral - isolation & purification; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Human papillomavirus 16; Humans; Immunity, Cellular; Immunoglobulin A - biosynthesis; Immunoglobulin G - biosynthesis; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Oncogene Proteins, Viral - immunology; Papillomaviridae - classification; Papillomaviridae - immunology; Papillomaviridae - pathogenicity; Papillomavirus Infections - complications; Papillomavirus Infections - immunology; Tumor Virus Infections - complications; Tumor Virus Infections - immunology; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - complications; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - immunology; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - virology
• ISSN: 0022-1317; 1465-2099
• DOI: 10.1099/0022-1317-80-2-409

HJ Bontkes, TD de Gruijl, JM Walboomers, JT Schiller, J Dillner, TJ Helmerhorst, RH Verheijen, RJ Scheper and CJ Meijer Department of Pathology, Free University Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. To investigate whether there is an association between local or systemic IgG and IgA responses against human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 virus-like particles (VLP) containing L1 and L2 and the possible influence of these responses on clearance of HPV-16 and its associated lesions, cervical mucus samples from 125 patients and plasma samples from 100 patients, all participating in a non-intervention cohort study of women with abnormal cytology, were analysed. The results show that local IgG and IgA HPV-16 VLP-specific antibodies do not correlate with virus clearance. However, systemic IgG responses were more frequently detected in patients with a persistent infection (11/24) compared with patients with cleared HPV-16 infections (3/28, P = 0.006). Furthermore, the ultimate development of high-grade lesions was associated with systemic VLP-specific IgG reactivity (P = 0.026). By contrast, systemic IgA responses were correlated with virus clearance (7/28 clearance compared with 1/24 persistence patients, P = 0.06). This correlation was statistically significant when only those clearance patients who tested HPV-16 DNA-positive at more than one visit were included in the analysis (5/11 compared with 1/24, P = 0.007). As these systemic IgA responses were not accompanied by local IgA responses, the systemic IgA responses in HPV-16 clearance patients are suggested to be a by-product of a successful cellular immune response induced at the local lymph nodes, mediated by cytokines.