Peritumoral stroma and systemic inflammatory response in cervical cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To compare cervical stroma in advanced cervical cancer with the control group; to compare, in the pre-treatment period, hemogram parameters in patients with advanced cervical cancer with the same parameters as the control group; and to verify if there is an association of stromal markers with prognostic factors in cervical cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively evaluated 16 patients diagnosed with advanced invasive cervical cancer. A control group of 22 patients was used (uterine leiomyoma). Immunohistochemistry was performed to verify the stromal immunostaining of alpha-smooth muscle actin (SMA) and fibroblast activation protein alpha (FAP). Immunostainings and hemogram parameters were compared using Fisher's exact and Mann-Whitney Test, respectively. RESULTS: Strong FAP immunostaining was more frequent in patients with cervical cancer when compared with patients with leiomyoma (P = 0.0002). Regarding SMA, strong immunostaining was also found more in the group of cancer patients compared to the control group (P < 0.00001). The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) values were higher in the cancer patient group compared to the control group (P = 0.0019). There was no association of the parameters studied with prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS: Strong FAP and SMA immunostaining was found more in patients with cervical cancer when compared to the control group. NLR values were also higher in cervical cancer.

Increased flexibility, pain reduction and unaltered levels of IL-10 and CD11b + lymphocytes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus were associated with kinesiotherapy.

The effect of physical activity on the immune system is still poorly understood in cases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Therefore, our aim was to investigate differences in the serum levels of cytokines (IL-2, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and TNF-α) and the numbers of CD11b + and CXCR2 + neutrophils and lymphocytes in women with SLE undergoing drug treatment, without ( n = 9) or with ( n = 5) 4 months of kinesiotherapy. Parameters related to functional capacity were also analyzed. In the case of the patients who were not submitted to kinesiotherapy, there were reductions in the levels of IL-5, IL-6 and IL-10, and an increase in the number of CD11b + leukocytes, in addition to an increase in abdominal circumference after the monitoring time. Patients submitted to kinesiotherapy did not present changes in serum cytokines or in the numbers of CD11b + and CXCR2 + neutrophils and lymphocytes, but there were increases of flexibility and strength, as well as a reduction in pain sensation after the monitoring time. In conclusion, kinesiotherapy was able to increase flexibility and reduce pain in SLE patients without influencing immune parameters.