Characterization of soluble factors from cultures of premalignant cervicalepithelium

Purpose: Immune responses within the cervical microenvironment are likely t o play an important role in the natural history of premalignant lesions but the pattern of this response and how it is regulated has not been document ed in detail. Methods: Explants of premalignant cervical epithelium were cultured in vitr o for 24 hours. The culture supernatants were assayed for the presence of I L-1 alpha, IL-10, IL-12 and TNF-alpha by ELISA. Aliquots of each supernatan t were also added to a CD3-dependent T cell proliferation assay. Results: The pattern of cytokines found in different samples was heterogene ous and no significant correlation was observed between the various cytokin es examined. The functional effects observed were also diverse, with some s upernatants showing strong inhibitory T cell activity, while others were st imulatory. Conclusion: Our results document the heterogeneity of the local cytokine mi croenvironment of premalignant cervical lesions, which may play a role in r egulating the immune response associated with such lesions and hence influe nce clinical outcome.