Human papillomavirus (HPV)
infection is the cause of
cervical cancer. Increased production of
reactive oxygen species (ROS) maybe the common mechanism through which HPV-cofactors (i.e., smoking and
inflammation) influence duration of
infections.
Biomarkers of total
oxidant load may serve as cumulative measures of ROS exposure due to these cofactors. Therefore, we conducted a study evaluating the association between
biomarkers of
oxidant load and duration of
HPV infections, early HPV natural history events. Serum samples were obtained from 444 HPV-positive women in the Ludwig-McGill Cohort Study. Anti-5-hydroxymethyl-2'-deoxyuridine
autoantibody (anti-HMdU aAb) and
malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured at baseline. Cox-proportional hazard models were used to estimate the probability of clearing any HPV, oncogenic HPV, non-oncogenic HPV and HPV-16
infections. Women with elevated MDA were significantly more likely to clear prevalent oncogenic
HPV infections compared to those with lower MDA levels (Adjusted Hazard Ratio (AHR) = 2.7; 95%CI = 1.4-5.1). There did not appear to be an association between elevated MDA and clearance of incident oncogenic
HPV infections. Similarly, women with elevated anti-HMdU aAb levels had higher rates of prevalent oncogenic
HPV infection clearance (Quartile 3:AHR = 2.2; 95%CI = 1.2-4.4; Quartile 4:AHR = 2.4; 95%CI = 1.2-4.9). Higher levels of
oxidant load
biomarkers were associated with increased clearance of prevalent
HPV infections. However,
oxidant load
biomarkers measured before incident
infections were not associated, suggesting that the elevation of MDA and anti-HMdU aAb may reflect an ongoing effective immune response, such as increased innate immunity. More research focused on the immune responses to HPV and elevated markers of
oxidant load is needed.