Sperm basic proteins and cervical carcinogenesis [letter]

The authors of this letter respond to an earlier letter by Cameron and Jones which asserted that the method used by the authors in correlating the ratio between sperm basic proteins and social class was unclear. Following the suggestion of Cameron and Jones the authors recast the original data in nonparametric terms using the analysis of variance by ranks of Kruskal-Wallis. The correlations obtained by this method showed an even higher degree of significance than was found originally. The authors maintain that the use of a ratio between histone and protamine is in order as long as the ratio itself is treated as a single variable. Contrary to Cameron and Jones assertion the relationship between cervical cancer and social class is more pronounced than associations with early or frequent sexual experience. Moreover it is possible that class-determined environmental factors may be shown to operate through a subtle direct effect on cellular nucleic acids.