Detection Of Peripheral Blood Th1/Th2 And Tc1/Tc2 Subsets In Patients With Condyloma Acuminatum And Its Significance

Condyloma acuminatum (CA), known as genital warts, is one of the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by Human Papillomavims (HPV) in China and abroad. HPV infects cutaneous and mucosal epithelium of the genital tract through sexual contact predominantly. In recent years, the incidence of CA is very high.HPV is a small, double-stranded DNA virus and more than 120 different subsets have been identified. HPV-6/11 are the genotypes most commonly found in CA. The refractoriness and high relapsing rate of CA patients are the main problems in clinic. Currently there are no definitive therapy and prevention for CA. The exact reasons of morbidity, regression, recurrence and malignant transformation for CA are unknown. T-helper (Th) and cytotoxic T (Tc) lymphocyte play an important role in anti-virus immunologic mechanism.In this study, the aims are to investigate the role of Th and Tc lymphocyte polarization in the pathogenesis of CA and its correlation with recurrence. We use three-colour immunoflurescent flow cytometry to detect the proportion of CD3~+CD8~-/IFN-γ~+(Th1), CD3~+CD8~-/IL-4~+(Th2), CD3~+CD8~+/EFN-γ~+(Tc1) and CD3~+CD8~+/IL-4~+(Tc2) cells in the peripheral blood of CA patients and health controls.The main results are as following:一,Th lymphocyte polarization in the peripheral blood of CA patients:Compared to health controls, CA patients show a remarkably decreased number of Th1 subsets (P<0.01) as well as a decreased Th1/Th2 ratio (P<0.05). Furthermore, in 15 recurrent CA patients group, the percentage of Th1 subsets (11.66±5.19 ) is the lowest and the ratio of Th1/Th2 is remarkably decreased (P<0.01). The percentage of Th2 subsets has no change (P >0.05).二,Tc lymphocyte polarization in the peripheral blood of CA patients:Compared to health controls, the number of Tc1 cells is decreased (P<0.05) in CA group and in recurrent group. The ratio of Tc1/Tc2 decreases (P<0.05) in CA group. In 15 recurrent CA patients group, the percentage of Tc1 subsets (9.42±4.03 ) is the lowest. The percentage of Tc2 subsets in CA patients has no change (P >0.05).三,All parameters between early and recurrent CA patients have no significant difference (P >0.05).In summary, the decrease of Th1 and Tc1 subsets results in relative Th2 and Tc2 predominance, and this tendency is more significant in recurrent CA patients. The Th1 to Th2 and Tc1 to Tc2 shifts in CA patients could be responsible for the facts that human papilloma virus (HPV) escapes host immune response and is hard to be eliminated.