Abstract: Objective To explore the changes of cervical local cytokines Th1, Th2 and Th17 in the process of high risk human papillomavirus (HR- HPV) persistent infection and their relationship with cervical lesions. Methods A total of seventy married women who were referred to colposcopy clinic in our hospital from November 2015 to January 2016 were included in this research. According to the HR-HPV infection status and pathological results, patients were divided into four groups: the cleared group (n=16), no squamous intraepithelial lesion group (NSIL, n=18), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion group (LSIL, n=18) and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion group (HSIL, n=18). The NSIL group, LSIL group and HSIL group were merged into the persistent infection group, while the LSIL group and HSIL group were amalgamated into the diseased group. The concentrations of interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17A, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and γ- interferon (IFN- γ) in vaginal douche were measured by BD cytometric bead array. The changes of the above cytokines and the relationship between Th2/Th1 and Th2/Th17 were analyzed according to the severity, persistent status and disease status. Results The levels of IL-6 increased significantly with the severity of disease (P < 0.05), while the levels of IL-2 were decreased significantly in LSIL group and HSIL group compared with those of the cleared group and NSIL group (P < 0.05). The other cytokines showed no significant differences between the four groups (P > 0.05). Compared with the cleared group, the level of IL-6 increased and IL-2 decreased in persistent infection group, which showed a same results in the diseased group compared with NSIL group. The more serious of the diseases, the higher levels in Th2/Th1 and Th2/Th17. Conclusion The persistence of HR-HPV infection and the occurrence of cervical intraepithelial lesion are closely related with the cervical local immune microenvironment.

Key words: human papillomavirus, uterine cervical neoplasms, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, Th1 cells, Th2 cells, cytokines, immune microenvironment