Antibodies to Herpes simplex virus in Jewish women with cervical cancer and in healthy Jewish women of Israel

Abstract

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) antibody titers were examined in sera from 39 Jewish women with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix (CaCx) and in sera from controls matched by age and country of origin. Highly significant differences were found between the cases and controls for both HSV type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV type 2 (HSV-2). Compared to findings in other demographic areas, the geometric mean titer (GMT) of HSV-1 among the CaCx cases were considerably higher, whereas the GMT for HSV-2 was in the same range. The percentage of HSV-2-positive patients, as defined by the HSV-2/HSV-1 antibody titer ratio was low compared to that found in other demographic areas; this was presumably due to the high incidence of HSV-1 infection in the population. The HSV-1 and HSV-2 infection rate in the Israeli Jewish female population was estimated by antibody titers for 94 healthy subjects. The GMT of HSV-1 was considerably higher, whereas the GMT of HSV-2 was lower, than those reported elsewhere. The association found previously between HSV-2 and CaCx remained true for Jewish women. Their low incidence of CaCx, which did not seem to result from lower susceptibility, might be explained by the low incidence of HSV-2 infection.