The functional immunological consequences of thymic regeneration after castration were studied in adult male C57Bl/6 mice. Phenotypic profiles of thymocytes present in the enlarged thymuses of castrate animals demonstrated a significant decrease in the proportion of thymocytes positive for the suppressor/cytotoxic phenotype (CD4-CD8+; P = 0.005). Thymic enlargement in castrate animals was accompanied by increased capacity of thymocytes to incorporate thymidine in response to Concanavalin A in vitro. Spleens from castrate mice also were enlarged, and in vitro generation of functional suppressor cells by splenocytes from castrate animals was decreased. Testosterone replacement resulted in thymic regression, with a shift toward expression of mature thymocyte phenotypes, a decrease in the double-positive phenotype (CD4+CD8+), and a relative predominance of the CD4-CD8+ suppressor/cytotoxic phenotype over the CD4+CD8- helper phenotype. Unstimulated thymidine incorporation by thymocytes from androgen-treated animals was decreased compared to controls (P = 0.050). Spleen size was not altered by androgen administration. These findings suggest that in the adult animal, changes in androgen status effect alterations in thymocyte phenotypic profiles and thymocyte function, with removal of androgens shifting the T cell balance toward the CD4 helper subset and administration of androgens changing the balance toward CD8 suppressor/cytotoxic T cell predominance.

Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing as primary cervical cancer screening has not been studied in Caribbean women. We tested vaginal self-collection versus physician cervical sampling in a population of Haitian women. Methods Participants were screened for high-risk HPV with self-performed vaginal and clinician-collected cervical samples using Hybrid Capture 2 assays (Qiagen, Gaithersburg, Maryland). Women positive by either method then underwent colposcopy with biopsy of all visible lesions. Sensitivity and positive predictive value were calculated for each sample method compared to biopsy results, with kappa statistics performed for agreement. McNemar’s tests were performed for differences in sensitivity at ≥ cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)-I and ≥ CIN-II. Results Of 1845 women screened, 446 (24.3%) were HPV-positive by either method, including 105 (5.7%) only by vaginal swab and 53 (2.9%) only by cervical swab. Vaginal and cervical samples were 91.4% concordant (κ= 0.73 [95% CI: 0.69 – 0.77], p < 0.001). Overall, 133 HPV-positive women (29.9%) had CIN-I, while 32 (7.2%) had ≥ CIN-II. The sensitivity of vaginal swabs was similar to cervical swabs for detecting ≥ CIN-I (89.1% vs 87.9%, respectively, p=0.75) lesions and ≥ CIN-II disease (87.5% vs 96.9%, p=0.18). Eighteen of 19 cases of CIN-III and invasive cancer were found by both methods. Conclusions HPV screening via self-collected vaginal swabs or physician-collected cervical swabs are feasible options in this Haitian population. The agreement between cervical and vaginal samples was high, suggesting vaginal sample-only algorithms for screening could be effective for improving screening rates in this under-screened population.

The risk of isolated local recurrence in patients with T3pN0 breast cancer and negative margins is moderately low and similar to T2pN0 patients. These results suggest that routine use of postoperative chest wall and nodal irradiation in all T3pN0 patients may not be required.

Telomerase activity level was associated with the proliferative index of invasive breast cancers, but its measurement in samples from this group of nonmetastatic breast cancer patients did not predict survival.