ALTERATION OF POLYUNSATURATED FATTY-ACID PATTERN OF PLASMA PHOSPHOLIPIDS AND ANTIOXIDANTS IN CERVICAL HPV INFECTION AND NEOPLASIA

The complex interactions between host immunity and infectious diseases have been documented in literature and they play a role in virus infe ction. Many clinical-experimental reports have stressed the importance of homeostasis of cell membranes and of the 'cell healthy indicators' , namely polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants in HIV infection . Today's increased incidence of heterosexual transmission of HIV has showed a strict correlation between HIV and HPV infection. According t o some studies, positive HIV subjects have 40-200 times a greater risk of becoming HIV-positive. We have evaluated in 40 women with HIV infe ction the plasma levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids of phospholipid s and vitamin E, determined by GC-MS methods, and the erythrocyte glut athione peroxidase activity (GHS-Px) by spectrophotometric techniques. The alteration of these parameters were correlated with the progressi on of the infection, i.e. the appearance of dysplastic or neoplastic p athologies on the uterine cervix. The differences were statistically s ignificant (p<0.001) in subjects with cervical cancer with respect to both normal controls and patients with condylomatosis.