Geographic variations in cervical cancer risk in San Luis Potosí state, Mexico: A spatial statistical approach

Comparison of Cervical Levels of Interleukins-6 and -8 in Patients with and without Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia

Introduction:

Interleukins-6 and -8 are two pro-inflammatory cytokines increasing in serum and local levels under malignant conditions. There are limited evidences on the association between cervical level of these two factors and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). So, this study aimed to explore the association between cervical levels of IL-6 and IL-8 with cervical premalignant lesions.

Methods:

The present case-control study was conducted on married women undergone Pap smear for routine screening in two groups as the group with CIN (n=100) and the healthy control group (n=100). Cervical secretions were collected using sterile swab and the levels of IL-8 and IL-6 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software.

Results:

The mean cervical IL-6 level was 568.66±594.62 pg/ml in the patients with CIN and 212.7±213.9 pg/ml in the controls (P <0.001). The cervical IL-8 levels in the case and control groups were measured to be 1320.43±876.5 pg/ml and 1053.59±747.64 pg/ml, respectively (p=0.02). By modifying the confounding size effect of the age and marital duration, it was determined that cervical levels of IL-6 and IL-8 were both associated with CIN.

Conclusion:

Our results showed that the cervical levels of IL-6 and IL-8 are associated with CIN independent of age and marital duration.

Cervical cancer prevention in upper middle-income countries

The manuscripts by Tota et al. and by Rossi et al., in this issue of Preventive Medicine provide ample evidence regarding the urgent need to switch to HPV based screening programs and how it will become even more imperative once HPV vaccinated girls reach the cervical cancer screening age. Worldwide primary prevention with vaccination is the final goal; but, in the coming 2 to 3 decades most of the prevention should be done through screening and treatment of precancerous lesions. Cervical cancer remains a major public health problem in upper-middle income countries (UMICs). Coverage of vaccination against HPV by the end of 2014 was estimated to be <10% for girls and young women 10 to 20years with nearly no vaccination among older women. Therefore, multiple cohorts of women will remain dependent on secondary screening for cervical cancer prevention in the coming decades. Several UMICs currently have cytology-based screening programs with limited effectiveness. In addition to the limitations of cytology, summarized by Tota et al., screening programs in UMICs have other problems that further reduce their effectiveness including low programmatic coverage due to poor accessibility to health services and loss to follow-up of women screening positive. Cervical cancer prevention programs in UMICs should be urgently transformed to become more cost-efficient and most importantly more effective in reducing cervical cancer burden. Introduction of HPV vaccination where it is not available and where available, assuring high vaccination coverage among girls is a must. Screening programs should switch to HPV testing immediately while simultaneously solving other program deficiencies.