This looks to be very promising and the thought of eradicating cervical cancer is very hopeful. Thought it might be of interest as there have been some posts about pap smears and irregular results. HELEN BRANSWELL Tue May 3, 6:15 PM ET TORONTO (CP) - New vaccines poised to hit the market could make cervical cancer a thing of the past in countries willing and financially able to make use of them, experts in the field predict. The major breakthroughs are aimed at preventing transmission of human papillomavirus, or HPV, the primary risk factor for developing cervical cancer. "These are very exciting times for all of us in the field of cervical cancer prevention," said Dr. Alex Ferenczy, a McGill University professor and researcher who is an investigator on a clinical trial for one of two vaccines racing to market. "I believe we finally arrived to the point of being able to prevent the majority of cervical cancer and pre-cancer by simply vaccinating women against the most frequent HPV types that are known to cause cervical cancer." Ferenczy was speaking from Vancouver, where experts from around the world have gathered for an international congress on HPV. The drugs are believed to be within a year or two of regulatory approval in the affluent markets of the developed world. It remains to be seen whether their prices will be within reach of women in Third World countries, where even such rudimentary procedures as pap smears are not widely available. Dr. Philip Davies, head of the European Cervical Cancer Association, agreed Tuesday that these are heady times. "At this point in time, we have the means to virtually eliminate cervical cancer. So it's really the first human cancer that we could virtually eliminate in developed nations," said Davies, who splits his time between Lyons, France, where the association is headquartered and Montreal, where he is an adjunct professor in McGill's department of cancer epidemiology. "I think one of the things I find most exciting about this is that this a very nice example of where the basic research has been going along in the background - most people have known nothing about this, most people still don't know anything about HPV - and now we're seeing the translation of all this basic research into technologies that are going to make an impact on people's lives," Davies said. In Canada, 1,350 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer this year, and an estimated 400 will die of the disease. Two types of HPV - numbered 16 and 18 - are responsible for about 70 per cent of cases of cervical cancer. Two pharmaceutical giants - Merck and GlaxoSmithKline - have each produced vaccines which in preliminary trials show remarkable efficacy at protecting women against persistent infection with HPV16 and HPV18. The GlaxoSmithKline trial, reported last fall in the New England Journal of Medicine, was 100 per cent effective in preventing persistent infection - which is believed to cause the cancer risk. Data from a trial of Merck's vaccine - which protects against HPV16 and HPV18 as well as the two types which cause genital warts, HPV6 and HPV11 - were presented at the Vancouver conference. That vaccine showed 90 per cent protection over placebo. "The immune reaction to the vaccine is 143 times greater than in placebo. It is higher than in women who cleared their HPV by their natural defence," Ferenczy said. "This is hot." Both vaccines are in what is called Phase 3 trials now - the largest and last stage needed to gain regulatory approval to market a vaccine or drug. Ferenczy said the Merck vaccine is currently being tested in 25,000 women and men around the world. Men are involved at this stage because it is believed eliminating infections with these types of HPV viruses will also cut rates of cancers of the anus, penis, vulva and vagina. The director of cancer control policy at the Canadian Cancer Society called HPV research an exciting area in the field of cancer. "We're still a long way from this being standard therapy or being implemented across the population," Heather Logan cautioned. "We still need more research in the area. But the research at the moment is very promising."
WOW! It's good to know that there are people out there trying to prevent this. A couple years ago my doctor found cancerous cells in my cervic; I was scared to death. Luckly he caught it in time for me to only have minor surgery. Still was something that I hope to never go through again! Thank you for sharing this article!!!!!!
i got a little confused towards the end.. was it saying the vaccine is only preventative, or can it prevent cervical cancer from occuring in someone who already has hpv, too? either way, that is wonderful!
