Immune responses in patients with cervical cancer using human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 E7 peptides and autologous dendritic cells

HPV几乎存在于所有宫颈癌中，估计占99.7%，某些HPV类型的致癌潜力已得到明确证明。HPV-16可以在大约50%的宫颈鳞状细胞癌中检测到。HPV-16的E6和E7基因编码能使人角质形成细胞永生的癌蛋白。E6和E7蛋白的持续表达已被证明是宫颈癌细胞生长和致瘤性的必要条件。HPV-E6和e7在宫颈癌中选择性保留和表达。因此它们是有吸引力的免疫治疗靶点。大多数性活跃的女性最终会接触到HPV，但没有数据表明健康女性和宫颈癌患者的免疫反应可能存在差异。我们研究了hpv特异性CD8+CTL反应是否可以通过HPV-16 E7肽和自体树突状细胞（DC）的体外刺激从患者和健康女性的人外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）诱导。这项研究表明，特异性CTL反应的频率在两组中几乎相似，这表明免疫反应能力在两组中都存在。

HPV is present in virtually all cervical cancers, an estimated 99.7 percent and the oncogenic potential of certain HPV types has been clearly demonstrated. HPV-16 can be detected in approximately 50% of squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. The E6 and E7 genes of HPV-16 encode for oncoproteins that can immortalize human keratinocytes. Continued expression of the E6 and E7 proteins has been shown to be necessary for the growth and tumorigenicity of cervical carcinoma cells. HPV-E6 and-E7 are selectively retained and expressed in cervical cancer. Therefore they are attractive targets for the immunotherapy. Most sexually active women are eventually exposed to HPV, but there is no data about potential difference in immune response among healthy women and patients with cervical cancer. We have investigated whether HPV-specific CD8+CTL responses can be induced from the human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients and healthy women by in vitro stimulation using an HPV-16 E7 peptide and autologous dendritic cells (DC). This study showed that the frequency of specific CTL response was almost similar for both, suggesting that the ability of immune responses is present in both groups.