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Aim. To determine the change of lipid levels in the cervical epithelial cells during the treatment of chronic cervicitis and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) with 0.1% activated glycyrrhizic acid. Materials and methods. The prospective cohort study included 40 patients with chronic cervicitis and 40 patients with LSIL. Cytological evaluation of cervical smears was performed according to the Bethesda system (2014). All patients received Epigen Intim Spray for 18 months. Amplification of type-specific DNA fragments of human papillomavirus (HPV) and human DNA (sampling control SC) was done using a kit of reagents to detect, type, and quantitatively determine 21 HPV types by Quantum-21 HPV PCR. Lipid extract of a cervical epithelial scraping taken before and after therapy was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Lipids were identified using the Lipid Match R-script and by characteristic MS/MS. Correlation analysis of the lipidome of cervicovaginal fluid and SC was performed using the Spearman test, and the Mann-Whitney test was used to compare lipid levels at the two time points. Results. During the treatment of chronic cervicitis, the levels of CL lipids 16:0_16:1_18:1_18:1, HexCer-NDS d20:0/26:0, PC 16: 0_18: 1 and 16: 0_20:4 were decreasing; during the treatment of LSIL, the levels of ceramides and glucosylceramides were decreasing. Chronic cervicitis is characterized by a positive correlation of SC smear with cardiolipins, glucosylceramides, and epithelial lipids with an ether bond; LSIL showed a negative correlation with phosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylethanolamines with an ether bond. Conclusion. As a result of treatment with activated glycyrrhizic acid, the lipid spectrum of epithelial cells significantly changed, depending on the type of lesion. It is also necessary to consider SC scrapings in further studies of epithelial cell lipidome and the type of HPV-associated lesions that affects the adjustments.

Scleroatrophic lichen (SL) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease of unknown etiology characterized by scar formation. The most frequent localization of SL is the anogenital area. In females, the most common anogenital symptoms are pain, itching, dysuria and dyspareunia. Male patients often present with complaints of a white rash on the penile skin, itching, painful erections and urination, and bleeding or ulceration during intercourse. Although clinical descriptions of SL date back to the mid-20th century, the pathophysiological mechanism remains unclear to this day. The main hypotheses of the pathophysiology of SL are infectious, autoimmune, and chronic irritation theories (occlusive exposure to various irritants, such as urine, leads to chronic skin injury that causes the disease). It is assumed that SL quite often goes undiagnosed for a long time. However, sometimes dermatoses such as eczema in the anogenital area are misdiagnosed by specialists as SL. In this article, the authors discuss in detail the existing hypotheses of SL development, its clinical manifestations, and current methods of diagnostics and therapy.

Human papillomavirus infection in women and men causes benign, premalignant and malignant diseases of the anogenital area. Laboratory diagnosis plays a major role in early detection of HPV-associated diseases in women, but there are no approved screening modalities, which can detect HPV-associated diseases in men. Examination of the sexual partners of patients with anogenital HPV diseases is a substantiated and important link in a chain of cancer prevention methods.

In recent years viral infections take the worldwide leading place due to their damaging effect on the body in general and reproductive system in particular. Herpes infection is a serious medico-social problem, which is one of the most common human viral infections. More than 90% of the population worldwide are infected with one or more serotypes of the herpes virus. Recurrent herpes virus diseases affects 2--12% of the population.