Abstract :
Aims: Cervical carcinogenesis is a multi-step process associated with refractory infection by highrisk
human papillomavirus (HPV) types. Only a minority of HPV infected women develop cervical
intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) or cervical cancer, indicating that HPV infection is not the sole risk factor
to induce cervical cancer. The present study aimed to identify the association of toll like receptor 9 (TLR9)
(2848C>T; rs352140) single neucleotide polymorphism (SNP) with cervical cancer in East Indian women.
Materials and Methods: Study subjects comprised 71 women with histologically proven cervical cancer,
and 100 women with benign cervical lesions. The case group included HPV 16 ve subjects with
malignancy. Among subjects with benign lesions, 43 were HPV 16 ve (intermediate group) and 57
were HPV –ve (control group). TLR9 genotyping was performed using PCR RFLP. TLR9 expression was
analyzed using real time PCR.
Results: For the C2848T polymorphism of TLR9, the TT genotype and the T allele frequency were
significantly increased in the case group compared to those in the control group and the intermediate group.
Conclusion: Our study suggests that the TLR9 C2848T polymorphism may be a genetic risk factor for
cervical cancer and the progression from HPV infection to cervical cancer.
Keyword :
TLR9 polymorphism, Innate immunity, Cervical carcinogenesis.