Introduction: inflammatory cytokines have been associated with various cancers, including cervical cancers. Interpreting cytokine expression in liquid based cervical samples is quite challenging. This study is aimed at evaluating the levels of interleukin 8 and 10 in liquid based cervical samples.

Methods: this is a descriptive analytical study carried out on eighty five (85) subjects aged between 23 and 68 years. Cervical samples were collected in liquid based medium and smears later examined after staining with Papanicolaou technique. These were categorized into low grade intra-epithelial lesion/malignancy, high grade intraepithelial lesion/malignancy according to the degree of dyskaryosis. Concentrations of interleukin 8 and interleukin 10 in the samples were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: the mean age, standard deviation (SD) of the study subjects were 40.6 (7.8) years. A total number of 79 females (92.9%) were negative for intra-epithelial lesion/malignancy (NILM), while 4 (4.71%) and 2 (2.35%) were positive for low grade intra-epithelial lesion/malignancy (LILM) and high grade intra-epithelial lesion (HILM) respectively. While mean levels of interleukin 8 increased with the degree of malignancy, (107.27 ± 11.88pg/ml) in LILM, (114.80 ± 2.12pg/ml) in HILM when compared with NILM (88.39 ± 18.06pg/ml), (f = 0.700, p = 0.018); the mean levels of interleukin 10 was comparable between these groups (p ≥ 0.05). Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed a negative association between interleukin 8 and interleukin 10 (r = -1.999, p = 0.000) in LILM.

Conclusion: interleukin 8 cytokines in cervical cancer is associated with the degree of malignancy. Possible anti-inflammatory effect of interleukin 10 was not observed.