Th2 type inflammation promotes the gradual progression of HPV-infected cervical cells to cervical carcinoma

To investigate the role of immunological parameters in tumorigenesis of cervical cancer in women infected with high risk human papillomavirus (hr-HPV), and determine whether key findings with human material can be recapitulated in the mouse TC1 carcinoma model which expresses hr-HPV epitopes.

Epithelial and lymphoid cells in cervical tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry and serum IL10 levels were determined by ELISA. Tumor draining lymph nodes were analyzed in the mouse TC1 model by flow cytometry.

The mucosa was infiltrated by CD20+ and CD138+ cells already at cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 (CIN1) and infiltration increased in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (CIN3)/carcinoma in situ (CIS) and invasive cervical cancer (ICC), where it strongly correlated with infiltration by CD32B+ and FoxP3+ lymphocytes. GATA3+ and T-bet+ lymphoid cells were increased in ICC compared to normal, and expression in epithelial cells of the Th2 inflammation-promoting cytokine TSLP and of IDO1 was higher in CIN3/CIS and ICC. As a corollary, serum levels of IL10 were higher in women with CIN3/CIS or ICC than in normals. Finally we demonstrated in the mouse TC1 carcinoma, which expresses hr-HPV epitopes, an increase of cells expressing B cell or plasma cell markers or Fc receptors in tumor-draining than distal lymph nodes or spleen.

hr-HPV initiates a local Th2 inflammation at an early stage, involving antibody forming cells, and fosters an immunosuppressive microenvironment that aids tumor progression.