Death receptors in cervical cancer

Death-prone T cells might increase the risk of developing cervical cancer, according to a study on page 967. Sun and colleagues show that women with cervical cancer are more likely to have T cells that are genetically programmed to express high levels of the death-inducing molecule FAS ligand (FASL).Most cervical cancers are associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. But not all HPV-infected women develop cervical cancer, suggesting that other factors contribute to cancer progression. A recent study linked cervical cancer with a genetic polymorphism in the gene encoding the death receptor FAS, which triggers apoptosis when bound by its ligand FASL. However, these findings are controversial as other studies failed to confirm this association.

Sun and colleagues now find that a naturally occurring polymorphism in the FASL promoter was three times...