Tumour necrosis factor microsatellite association with human papillomavirus cervical infection.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in the female population worldwide, and human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA has been isolated from more than 90% of these carcinomas. Immunoregulatory/antitumour mechanisms include cytokines that interfere directly with HPV harbouring cells. Among these cytokines, tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) is released by HPV infected cells and inhibits the growth of transformed cell lines.1 TNFα is a proinflammatory/antitumour cytokine that is indispensable to the inflammatory response. The TNF locus contains several polymorphic areas, including five microsatellite markers—a, b, c, d, and e—which contain 14, 7, 2, 7, and 3 alleles, respectively. These microsatellites are associated with different degrees of TNFα secretion, and are related to a greater susceptibility to …