Serum levels of macrophage colony-stimulating factor-1 in cervical human papillomavirus infection and intraepithelial neoplasia

OBJECTIVE: Our goal was determine the correlation between serum colony stimulating factor-1 levels, cervical human papillomavirus infection, and dysplasia. STUDY DESIGN: Serum samples were obtained from control subjects from the United States and from a group of Panamanian women. Members of the latter group fell into 3 categories: those who serve as Panamanian control subjects and who test negative for human papillomavirus (n = 10); those who are high risk by history and test positive for human papillomavirus types 16/18 and 30s (n = 10); and those with the same high-risk history with biopsy-proven cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (n = 8). Serum colony-stimulating factor-1 revels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data were analyzed with the Student-Newman-Keuls and t tests. RESULTS: Mean serum colony-stimulating factor-1 levels of patients with a positive test result for human papillomavirus (1166 +/- 949 pg/mL) and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (1295 +/- 314 pg/ml) were higher than those of control subjects from the United States (584 +/- 237 pg/ml) and those of Panamanian central subjects (520 +/- 229 pg/mL). Statistical analysis revealed the concentration of colony-stimulating factor in patients with positive test results for human papillomavirus or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia were significantly higher than in control groups. In addition, combining patients with human papillomavirus with those who have cervical intraepithelial neoplasia results in a group that has significantly higher colony-stimulating factor levels compared with control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Both high-grade cervical dysplasia and high-risk human papillomavirus infection are associated with higher mean serum colony-stimulating factor levels, suggesting a possible role for colony-stimulating factor-1 in cervical neoplasia. Further studies are needed to understand the mechanism of colony- stimulating factor activation in human papillomavirus infection. This may assist in designing therapeutic approaches for the management of this disease.