Plasma Retinol-Binding Protein in Human Uterine Cervical Dysplasias and Cancer

Abstract

Plasma concentrations of retinol-binding protein (RBP) were measured in a cross-sectional study of asymptomatic normal menstruating women (n = 94) who obtained Pap smears and participated in a double-blinded nutritional survey. Controls (n = 45) were women with negative cervical cytology, normal colposcopy and no known gynecologic pathology or dysfunction. Cases (n = 49) were subjects with abnormal cytology and colposcopically directed biopsy that established cervical epithelial dysplasias histopathologically in the previous 12-month period. In addition, 8 women with cancer of the cervix were also investigated. The mean plasma concentration of RBP was significantly lower in cases than in controls (p < 0.001). In normal females, the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle was increased. This increase was absent in the plasma of patients with cervical dysplasias (p < 0.05). The data direct attention to a possible etiologic association between RBP in human cervical epithelial abnormalities and cancer.