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Herpes simplex virus type 2 infection and cervical cancer: a prospective study of 12 years of follow-up in Finland

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Abstract

This study was initiated to investigate the role of past herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection, as determined by serum antibody analysis, in the etiology of cervical neoplasia. Two Finnish registers, the registry of the Social Insurance Institution's Mobile Clinic Survey and the Finnish Cancer Registry, were linked. About 40,000 blood samples were drawn in 1968–72 and stored by the Social Insurance Institution. According to the Cancer Registry, 32 cases of cervical carcinoma or carcinoma in situ for which serum samples were available were diagnosed in this cohort during a follow-up of 12 years (1968–81). The serum samples of these individuals and age matched controls (2:1) from the cohort were analyzed for HSV-2 antibodies. HSV-2 infection as determined by the best available HSV-2 type-specific antibody assay, glycoprotein gG2-ELISA, was not related to cervical neoplasia, i.e., the risk of cervical neoplasia among the HSV-2 positive women was not higher than that among the negative ones (smoking-adjusted relative risk = 0.5, 95 percent confidence interval = 0.2–1.6). The results do not support the hypothesis that HSV-2 is an etiologic agent for cervical neoplasia.

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Authors
  1. Matti Lehtinen
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  2. Matti Hakama
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  3. Ritva -Kaarina Aaran
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  4. Arpo Aromaa
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  5. Paul Knekt
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  6. Pauli Leinikki
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  7. Jouni Maatela
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  8. Richard Peto
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  9. Lyly Teppo
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Additional information

Drs Lehtinen, Aaran, and Leinikki are with the Department of Biomedical Science, University of Tampere, Finland. Dr Hakama is with the Department of Public Health, University of Tampere, Finland, and also, with Dr Teppo, at the Finnish Cancer Registry, Helsinki, Finland. Drs Aromaa, Knekt, and Maatela are with the Social Insurance Institution, Helsinki, Finland. Dr Peto is at the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Address correspondence to Dr Lehtinen, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Tampere, SF-33101 Tampere, Finland.

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Lehtinen, M., Hakama, M., Aaran, R.K. et al. Herpes simplex virus type 2 infection and cervical cancer: a prospective study of 12 years of follow-up in Finland. Cancer Causes Control 3, 333–338 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00146886

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00146886

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