RESULTS:
A total of 133 patients were identified, of whom 107 (80%) had squamous cell carcinoma. Ninety patients (68%) had bulky disease and were treated primarily with chemoradiation and brachytherapy. Of patients whose disease recurred, 5 patients (42%) had tested positive for hr-HPV during their surveillance period, compared to 13 patients (11%) for whom disease did not recur (relative risk: 3.88, P = .002). On multivariate logistic regression, hr-HPV status remained significantly predictive of disease recurrence (odds ratio: 12.3, P = .02, 95% confidence interval: 1.5-99.6). Using 2 × 2 table analysis, we found that while cervicovaginal cytology has limited specificity (5.7%) in predicting recurrence, the combination of cytology with hr-HPV testing increases the specificity of testing to 89.3%.
CONCLUSIONS:
Persistence of hr-HPV is a risk factor for disease recurrence. High-risk-HPV testing is not routinely used during surveillance for cervical cancer, but this study suggests that large, prospective trials investigating the role of hr-HPV testing in cervical cancer surveillance are needed.
Abstract
The expression of the immunomodulating enzyme indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) suppresses T-lymphocyte function, thus correlating with poor survival in a variety of cancer patients. IDO degrades the essential amino acid tryptophan leading to immunosuppressive kynurenines production. In the present study, concentrations of tryptophan, 3-hydroxykynurenine, and kynurenine were measured in pre-treatment serum samples of 251 cervical cancer patients by a mass-spectrometric method (XLC-MS/MS) and IDO activity determined by the kynurenine/tryptophan (Kyn/Trp) ratio. A low concentration of tryptophan was found to be significantly associated with tumors greater than 4 cm and lymph node metastatic spread. Furthermore, significant positive correlations were found between high concentrations of the tryptophan metabolites kynurenine and 3-hydroxykynurenine and advanced disease stage (FIGO >IIA) and lymph node metastases. High levels of kynurenine were further associated with parametrial invasion and tumor size. A high Kyn/Trp ratio was related to lymph node metastasis, FIGO stage, tumor size, parametrial invasion and poor disease-specific survival. These results suggest that IDO activation is linked to poor clinicopathological parameters and worse survival in cervical cancer, warranting the use of IDO inhibitors in future clinical trials.
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