BACKGROUND To investigate the clinical significance of tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) within the tumor milieu of human cervical carcinoma, the authors quantitatively measured and compared the subpopulations of lymphocytes infiltrating the neoplastic cervix. METHODS A total of 30 patients with Stage Ia–IIa cervical carcinoma were enrolled. TILs were isolated from tissue specimens by means of a mechanical dispersal technique, and the immunocyte subsets were quantified with dual‐color flow cytometry. Bulky tumor was defined as tumor size >4 cm in greatest dimension according to the 1995 staging of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. RESULTS The CD4/CD8 ratios of TILs were reversed in both cervical squamous cell carcinoma (n = 20) and cervical adenocarcinoma (n = 10). The proportion of CD4⁺ T cells was significantly lower in tumors from patients with lymph node metastasis (n = 8) than in those from patients without lymph node metastasis (n = 22) (24.5 vs. 32.7, P = 0.001), as was the reversed CD4/CD8 ratio (0.50 vs. 0.81, P = 0.001). The proportion of CD4⁺ T cells was much lower in bulky tumors (n = 5) than in nonbulky tumors (n = 25) (21.4 vs. 32.5, P < 0.001), reflecting in a more strongly reversed CD4/CD8 ratio (0.41 vs. 0.81, P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Decreased proportions of tumor‐infiltrating CD4+ T cells with reversed CD4/CD8 ratios are highly correlated with rapid tumor growth and lymph node metastasis in cervical carcinoma. The regional immune escape is of prognostic importance with regard to cancer progression. Cancer 1999;86:1537–43. © 1999 American Cancer Society.

Few population-based studies have assessed the risk factors of and gender differences in intima-media thickness (IMT) at the common carotid artery (CCA) for different age groups. Factors determining age and gender differences in IMT were studied in ethnic Chinese participants of the Chin-Shan Community Cardiovascular Cohort in Taiwan. From July 1994 through August 1996, the CCA-IMT of 1203 men and 1487 women aged 35 years or more was measured using high-resolution B-mode carotid ultrasound. Cardiovascular risk factors were recorded for each subject. The CCA-IMT consistently increased with age and was more in men than in women. For participants aged 55 years or more, women showed a more rapid increase in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) than men. The gender difference in CCA-IMT became insignificant after 75 years of age. The major determinants of CCA-IMT in addition to age and gender were body mass index at 35-44 years of age, LDL in both genders and SBP in women at 45-54 years old, SBP at 55-64 and 65-74 years old, and women with left ventricular hypertrophy, hypertension with medication, and high LDL levels at 65-74 years old after multivariate linear regression analysis. For those aged over 75 years, SBP was an important determinant of CCA-IMT. The CCA-IMT increases with age and its determinants are associated with age and gender. The rapid increase in cardiovascular risk factors in women after 55 years of age attenuates the female advantage in CCA-IMT.

Endometriosis, defined by the presence of viable extrauterine endometrial glands and stroma, can grow or bleed cyclically, and possesses characteristics including a destructive, invasive, and metastatic nature. Since endometriosis may result in pelvic inflammation, adhesion, chronic pain, and infertility, and can progress to biologically malignant tumors, it is a long-term major health issue in women of reproductive age. In this review, we analyze the Taiwan domestic research addressing associations between endometriosis and other diseases. Concerning malignant tumors, we identified four studies on the links between endometriosis and ovarian cancer, one on breast cancer, two on endometrial cancer, one on colorectal cancer, and one on other malignancies, as well as one on associations between endometriosis and irritable bowel syndrome, one on links with migraine headache, three on links with pelvic inflammatory diseases, four on links with infertility, four on links with obesity, four on links with chronic liver disease, four on links with rheumatoid arthritis, four on links with chronic renal disease, five on links with diabetes mellitus, and five on links with cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc.). The data available to date support that women with endometriosis might be at risk of some chronic illnesses and certain malignancies, although we consider the evidence for some comorbidities to be of low quality, for example, the association between colon cancer and adenomyosis/endometriosis. We still believe that the risk of comorbidity might be higher in women with endometriosis than that we supposed before. More research is needed to determine whether women with endometriosis are really at risk of these comorbidities.