To examine the relationship of age, race, education level, income level, smoking, marital status, health insurance type, comorbidity, and residence in an urban or rural setting to late stage at diagnosis of cervical cancer. Cases were linked with state discharge abstracts and the 1990 US census. Age, marital status, and insurance type were associated with late-stage diagnosis. Nonadherence to screening recommendations was found to be the most important modifiable antecedent to ICC in this population. Pap smears regularly and by the use of newer screening technologies to reduce the false-negative rate of Pap smears.
T lymphocyte responses, after peptide vaccination of patients with cervical carcinoma.
No signs of toxicity were observed. Specific immune responses directed against the vaccine components were analyzed in peripheral blood samples. No cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses against the HPV16 E7 peptides were detectable. In conclusion, peptide vaccination with 2 HPV16 E7 cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes and a universal T helper epitope is well tolerated by patients with advanced cervical carcinoma. Despite a reduction of in vitro cytolytic or proliferative recall responses to some, but not all, conventional antigens in this patient group, peptide-specific proliferative responses were induced in 4 patients.