DOI: 10.1515/ap-2015-0007 © W. Stefański Institute of Parasitology, PAS Acta Parasitologica, 2015, 60(1), 50–53; ISSN 1230-2821 Serological screening of selected microsporidia in HPV-positive women Jozef Adam 1 , Alexandra Valenčáková 2 *, Monika Halánová 3 , Oľga Danišová 2 , Katarína Gorbarová 3 and Lýdia Čisláková 3 1 Faculty Hospital of J. A. Reimana Prešov, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Jána Hollého 14, 081 81 Prešov, Slovak Republic; 2 University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Department of Biology and Genetics, Komenského 73, 041 81 Košice, Slovak Republic; 3 Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Department of Public Health, Šrobárova 2, 041 80 Košice, Slovak Republic Abstract Microsporidiosis is considered to be emerging opportunistic infection in immunocompromised individuals worldwide. The aim of this study was to identify the specific serum antibodies to intestinal microsporidia Encephalitozoon cuniculi and Encephali- tozoon intestinalis in women with Human Papillomavirus HPV and without HPV by the indirect immunofluorescence (IFA). From total number of 669 examined women, 225 were HPV positive and 444 women HPV negative. Overall the study com- prised of 10.8% women with positive result for presence of E. cuniculi antibodies. In group 1 (HPV-positive women) it was more than 28% and in group 2 (HPV-negative women) it was less than 2% (p<0.001). E. intestinalis infection was found in total of 4.48% women, in group 1 it was present in less than 6% and in group 2 in less than 4% of women. Keywords HPV (Human Papillomavirus), Immunosuppression, Microsporidia Introduction In the last years, number of patients with various disorders of immune system has increased, which is a result of a higher number of infections caused by opportunistic pathogens and infections that can fully clinically develop due to reduced im- mune system function. One of the relatively frequent oppor- tunistic diseases is microsporidiosis. Before the year 1980 were microsporidia, which cause diseases in human popula- tion, reported rarely. After discovery of HIV virus and AIDS, situation has changed and number of patients with various disorders of immune system (patients with organ transplants, oncological patients) began to rise. Most commonly diagno- sed microsporidia include Encephalitozoon intestinalis, En- cephalitozoon cuniculi and Enterocytozoon bieneusi (Orenstein 2003). Microsporidia are unique group of obligate intracellu- lar spore-forming parasites, which are capable of infecting both vertebrates and invertebrates. Any immunodeficiency of host organism can create suitable conditions for this pathogen, where the decisive factor for prevention of symptomatic form is a cellular immunity status, mainly associated with the level of CD4 + and CD8 + T-lymphocytes (Moretto et al. 2004). A number of diseases which are associated with the primary abnormality of the immune system are predisposing factors of HPV infection. In comparison to the healthy people in the con- trol group, patients with clinical signs of HPV infection have more often present the defect of cellular immunity (Mohanty and Roy 1984). This is caused by either primary disease (HIV, hematologic malignancies, systemic lupus erytematodes) or induced iatrogenically. These patients have more commonly persistent HPV infections and HPV-associated malignity. HPV infection of genital system is prevalent among young sexually active people, where most of them will overcome infection without clinical symptomatology. Those that develop genital warts in most cases respond with cell-mediated immunity and lesions regress. This is confirmed by animal models that si- multaneously provide evidence that immune response is reg- ulated by the mechanisms of CD4 + T – lymphocytes. The central role of CD4 + T – lymphocytes in the control of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is confirmed by the increas- ing prevalence of HPV infection in immunocompromised in- dividuals, who are for example after transplantation or HIV positive (Gissman 1997). This suggests the central role of mechanisms linked to CD4 + and CD8 + cell line in the control *Corresponding author: alexandra.valencakova@uvlf.sk Author's copy