ArticleMucosal immunology2016
HIV-1-negative female sex workers sustain high cervical IFNɛ, low immune activation, and low expression of HIV-1-required host genes.
Article in Mucosal immunology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Infiltrating T-cell markers in cervical carcinogenesis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.British journal of cancer · 2021Pooled it
- Immunogenicity of Human Papillomavirus Virus Vaccine in a High-risk and Understudied Group: Female Sex Workers.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Special Issue: New Horizons in HIV and Reproductive Health Research: HIV Acquisition and Reproductive Health in Key Populations.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2026Review
- Exploring the vaginal ecosystem: insights into host-microbe interactions and microbial community dynamics.Infection and immunity · 2025Review
- Interferon Epsilon: Properties and Functions.Current molecular medicine · 2025Review
- Are violence, harmful alcohol/substance use and poor mental health associated with increased genital inflammation?: A longitudinal cohort study with HIV-negative female sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Spatiotemporal regulation of human IFN-ε and innate immunity in the female reproductive tract.JCI insight · 2022Article
- Interferon Epsilon Signaling Confers Attenuated Zika Replication in Human Vaginal Epithelial Cells.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Article
- Article
- The regulation of antiviral activity of interferon epsilon.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
- The Importance of Regulation in Natural Immunity to HIV.Vaccines · 2021Review
- Differential Elevation of Inflammation and CD4Frontiers in immunology · 2020Article
- Repeated semen exposure decreases cervicovaginal SIVmac251 infection in rhesus macaques.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Seminal plasma modulates expression of endometrial inflammatory meditators in the bovine†.Biology of reproduction · 2019Article
- Human interferon-ϵ and interferon-κ exhibit low potency and low affinity for cell-surface IFNAR and the poxvirus antagonist B18R.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2018Article
- Interferon epsilon promotes HIV restriction at multiple steps of viral replication.Immunology and cell biology · 2017Article
- Seminal plasma induces inflammation and enhances HIV-1 replication in human cervical tissue explants.PLoS pathogens · 2017Article
- Differential regulation of IFNα, IFNβ and IFNε gene expression in human cervical epithelial cells.Cell & bioscience · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors at 8 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Sex workers practicing in high HIV endemic areas have been extensively targeted to test anti-HIV prophylactic strategies. We hypothesize that in women with high levels of genital exposure to semen changes in cervico-vaginal mucosal and/or systemic immune activation will contribute to a decreased susceptibility to HIV-1 infection. To address this question, we assessed sexual activity and immune activation status (in peripheral blood), as well as cellular infiltrates and gene expression in ectocervical mucosa biopsies in female sex workers (FSWs; n=50), as compared with control women (CG; n=32). FSWs had low-to-absent HIV-1-specific immune responses with significantly lower CD38 expression on circulating CD4(+) or CD8(+) T-cells (both: P<0.001) together with lower cervical gene expression of genes associated with leukocyte homing and chemotaxis. FSWs also had increased levels of interferon-ɛ (IFNɛ) gene and protein expression in the cervical epithelium together with reduced expression of genes associated with HIV-1 integration and replication. A correlative relationship between semen exposure and elevated type-1 IFN expression in FSWs was also established. Overall, our data suggest that long-term condomless sex work can result in multiple changes within the cervico-vaginal compartment that would contribute to sustaining a lower susceptibility for HIV-1 infection in the absence of HIV-specific responses.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.