cervical cancer

Cervical pre-cancer rates down 88% in decade since HPV vaccinations began – first findings

Source: The Conversation Date: April 19, 2019 Author: Kevin Polluck Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer among women in the UK under the age of 35 after breast and skin cancer. In the majority of cases, the cancer only develops if the patient is infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 or 18. This virus is mainly transmitted between people having vaginal, anal or oral sex. At some point in their lives, four in five people will be infected by HPV strains – as many as 14 can cause cancer in total. According to recent studies, other cancers heavily linked to HPV infections include head-and-neck, vulvo-vaginal and anal. In an effort to reduce rates of cervical cancer, a number of countries launched immunisation programmes in the late 2000s, starting with Australia in 2006. The UK and its devolved governments launched a school immunisation programme in 2008 to vaccinate all girls aged 12-13. To speed up the time lag associated with achieving the benefits of vaccination, they also kicked off a three-year catch-up programme for girls aged up to 18 years. A decade on, we are finally able to publish the first results. The data relates to Scotland, since it was cervically screening women from the age of 20 until 2016 – before falling into line with the minimum age of 25 used in the rest of the UK. This meant that Scotland obtained screening data for the 2008-09 cohort before the change in screening age. Scotland also has [...]

Charlotte Parker2020-01-06T17:40:21-07:00January, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

The HPV Vaccine Is Already Dramatically Lowering Rates of Cervical Disease

Source: Gizmodo Date: 04/03/19 Author: Ed Cara A new study out Wednesday in the BMJ is the latest to showcase even the short-term benefits of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. It found that the routine vaccination of preteen girls in Scotland, starting in 2008, led to drastically lower rates of cervical disease by the time the girls turned 20. That included conditions known to raise the risk of cervical cancer later on in life. There are over 100 different types of HPV that regularly infect humans. Most types cause no symptoms at all, while some can cause annoying but harmless warts on our hands, feet, or genitals, depending on where they like to call home. High-risk HPV types, however, linger in the cells that line the surfaces of our body, triggering changes that can eventually turn them cancerous. These HPV types account for nearly all cases of cervical cancer, as well as a substantial proportion of cancers in the mouth, throat, anus, and penis. We’ve had a vaccine available for two of the most common high-risk types of HPV since 2006, when it was at first recommended only for teen girls. Over the years, the window of opportunity for getting the vaccine has expanded, as has the number of HPV types it protects against. The newest version protects against seven high-risk types that account for 90 percent of cervical cancers (along with two types that cause genital warts). And young boys and men are now also encouraged to get the vaccine, as are women up [...]

Brian Hill2019-04-04T09:26:20-07:00April, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

HPV vaccine is safe, effective after 10 years: study

Author: AFP/RelaxNews Date: November 30, 2017 Source: Globalnews.ca New research looking into the long-term effects of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has found it to be both safe and effective in protecting against the most virulent strains of the virus. Led by Dr. Daron G. Ferris, professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical College of Georgia and at the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, the study is the longest followup to date on the vaccine, looking at data from 1,661 male and female participants who were followed for just under 10 years. Of these participants, around two-thirds received a three-dose regimen of the vaccine when they were ages nine to 15 and sexually inactive. Initially about one-third received a placebo — not a vaccine — however, the placebo group also received the vaccine 30 months into the study, meaning that these individuals were followed a shorter period of time. Ferris found that the vaccine was virtually 100 per cent effective in preventing the disease, although vaccinating earlier produced the most robust initial and long-term antibody response, the proteins found in the blood which help fight infection. “We needed to answer questions like if we vaccinate earlier in life, will it last,” explained Ferris, “The answer is yes, this cancer prevention vaccine is working incredibly well 10 years later. A booster vaccine likely will not be needed by these young people. I think now we have come full circle.” The new finding also supports previous research which suggests that [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-12-03T14:03:35-07:00November, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer-Preventing Vaccines Given To Less Than Half Of US Kids

Source: www.houstonpublicmedia.org Author: Carrie Feibel U.S. regulators approved a vaccine to protect against the human papilloma virus (HPV) in 2006, but cancer experts say misconceptions and stigma continue to hamper acceptance by both doctors and parents. Eighty percent of Americans are exposed to the human papilloma virus in their lifetimes. Some strains of HPV can cause genital warts, but most people experience no symptoms and clear the virus from their systems within a year or two. But for an unlucky minority, the virus causes damage that, years later, leads to cervical cancer, throat cancer, and other types. Researchers at MD Anderson are frustrated that ten years after the first vaccine arrived on the market, only 42 percent of U.S. girls, and 28 percent of boys, are getting the three-shot series. The series can be given to girls and boys between the ages of 9 and 26, but the immune response is strongest at younger ages, before sexual activity begins. n 2007, then-Texas governor Rick Perry proposed making the HPV vaccine mandatory for all preteen girls. At the time, the vaccine was only approved and marketed for girls. Dr. Lois Ramondetta, a cervical cancer specialist at MD Anderson, remembers the outcry. “A lot of people felt that was the right idea, but the wrong way to go about it. Nobody really likes being told what to do, especially in Texas,” Ramondetta said. “I think there was a lot of backlash.” Eventually, the legislature rejected Perry’s plan, even though it included an opt-out [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-09-27T11:19:43-07:00September, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

HPV is changing the face of head and neck cancers

Source: www.healio.comAuthor: Christine Cona A drastic increase in the number of HPV-associated oropharynx cancers, particularly those of the tonsil and base of tongue, has captured the attention of head and neck oncologists worldwide. In February, at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Chandler, Ariz., Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, professor and Jeg Coughlin Chair of Cancer Research at The Ohio State University in Columbus, presented data that showed that the proportion of all head and neck squamous cell cancers that were of the oropharynx — which are most commonly HPV-positive cancers — increased from 18% in 1973 to 32% in 2005. Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, Jeg Coughlin Chair of Cancer Research at The Ohio State University, said screening for HPV in the head and neck is years behind cervical screening for HPV. In addition, studies from the United States, Europe, Denmark and Australia indicate that HPV-positive patients have a more than twofold increased cancer survival than HPV-negative patients, according to Gillison. With the rising incidence of HPV-related oropharynx cancers, it will soon be the predominant type of cancer in the oral or head and neck region, according to Andy Trotti, MD, director of radiation oncology clinical research, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, in Tampa, Fla. “We should be focusing on HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer because it will dominate the field of head and neck cancers for many years,” he said during an interview with HemOnc Today. “It is certainly an important population for which to continue to [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-06-03T11:11:05-07:00June, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

ASCO Urges Aggressive Efforts to Increase HPV Vaccination

Source: www.medscape.comAuthor: Zosia Chustecka Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have now been available for 10 years, but despite many medical professional bodies strongly recommending the vaccine, uptake in the United States remains low. Data from a national survey show that about 36% of girls and 14% of boys have received the full schedule of HPV vaccines needed to provide protection (Vaccine. 2013;31:1673-1679). Now the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has become involved, and in a position statement issued today the organization calls for aggressive efforts to increase uptake of the HPV vaccines to "protect young people from life-threatening cancers." "With safe and effective vaccines readily available, no young person today should have to face the devastating diagnosis of a preventable cancer like cervical cancer. But unless we rapidly increase vaccination rates for boys and girls, many of them will," ASCO President Julie M. Vose, MD, said in a statement. "As oncologists, we see the terrible effects of these cancers first hand, and we have to contribute to improving today's alarmingly low vaccination rates," she added. The new policy statement is published online April 11 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The statement notes that HPV vaccination has been previously recommended by many US medical societies, including the American Cancer Society, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology Committee, the American Dental Association, the American Head and Neck Society, the American Nurses Association, the American Pharmacists Association, the Association of Immunization Managers, the Society for Adolescent Medicine, and the Society of Gynecologic Oncology. [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-04-18T13:12:04-07:00April, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer-causing HPV plummeted in teens since vaccine, study finds

Source: www.cnn.comAuthor: Sarina Storres (CNN)The human papillomavirus vaccine was first recommended for adolescent girls in the United States in 2006. Since that time, the prevalence of the cancer-causing virus has been dropping among young women, according to a new study. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared the rates of HPV infection in women 14 to 34 years of age during the years before the vaccine was recommended, between 2003 and 2006, with the most recent years for which data are available, 2009 to 2012. Among girls 14 to 19 years old, rates of infection with the four types of HPV included in the 4vHPV vaccine decreased from 11.5% to 4.3%. There was also a drop, although smaller, in women 20 to 24 years old, from 18.5% to 12.1%. Among the older groups, women ages 25 to 29 and 30 to 34, the prevalence of these HPV types did not change and was about 12% and 9%, respectively. "These results are very encouraging and show the effectiveness of the vaccine," said Dr. Lauri E. Markowitz, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC and lead author of the study, which was published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. "Eventually we expect to see decreases in HPV in older groups as women who were young (enough to get the vaccine) age," Markowitz added. Among the 14- to 24-year-old women in the study who were sexually active, rates of infection with the HPV types in the vaccine was only 2.1% among those [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-02-23T12:35:48-07:00February, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Study: HPV vaccine reduces HPV incidence in teenage girls

Source: www.upi.comAuthor: Stephen Feller Just over half of girls have received the HPV vaccination, but a new CDC study shows it has significantly reduced prevalence of the cancer-causing STI among females who have received the vaccine when compared with those who have not. Photo by Adam Gregor/Shutterstock WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- The prevalence of human papillomavirus infection among teenage and young adult women is down nearly two-thirds since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started recommending vaccine in 2006, according to a new study. The study is the first to show a drop in prevalence among women in their 20s, and continues to show decreases seen in smaller studies during the last few years, but researchers say the effect could be much stronger. The vaccine is recommended by the CDC and other organizations for girls and boys starting at age 11, experts say, in order to protect children from HPV before they become sexually active and can become infected. Concerns that the vaccine would influence teens' sexual practices have also been unfounded, as research has shown the vaccine does not make children more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior, based on a the lack of an increase in other STI incidence among vaccinated girls. "It's just like putting on your seatbelt before turning on the car," Dr. Alix Casler, medical director of pediatrics for Orlando Health, told UPI. She suggests separating the adolescents' eventual discovery of sex from the effort to prevent life-threatening diseases. Recommendations [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-02-22T13:59:16-07:00February, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

NCI-designated Cancer Centers Urge HPV Vaccination for the Prevention of Cancer

Source: www.medicine.wustl.eduAuthor: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Staff Approximately 79 million people in the United States are currently infected with a human papillomavirus (HPV) according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and 14 million new infections occur each year. Several types of high-risk HPV are responsible for the vast majority of cervical, anal, oropharyngeal (middle throat) and other genital cancers. The CDC also reports that each year in the U.S., 27,000 men and women are diagnosed with an HPV-related cancer, which amounts to a new case every 20 minutes. Even though many of these HPV-related cancers are preventable with a safe and effective vaccine, HPV vaccination rates across the U.S. remain low. Together we, a group of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)- designated Cancer Centers, recognize these low rates of HPV vaccination as a serious public health threat. HPV vaccination represents a rare opportunity to prevent many cases of cancer that is tragically underused. As national leaders in cancer research and clinical care, we are compelled to jointly issue this call to action. According to a 2015 CDC report, only 40 percent of girls and 21 percent of boys in the U.S. are receiving the recommended three doses of the HPV vaccine. This falls far short of the goal of 80 percent by the end of this decade, set forth by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Healthy People 2020 mission. Furthermore, U.S. rates are significantly lower than those of countries such as [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-02-04T12:35:06-07:00February, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

HPV debate reframed to focus on cancer

January 27, 2016 By Dr. Rachel Tompa / Fred Hutch News Science U.S. cancer centers unanimously call for increase in vaccine use for cancer prevention. Amid recent talk of “moonshot” cancer cures and new treatments in development, it can be easy to forget that we already have an effective, simple way to prevent at least six types of cancer. It’s called the HPV vaccine and it protects people from infection with the strains of human papillomavirus responsible for causing nearly all cervical and anal cancers, as well as many other genital cancers and certain head and neck cancers. And it’s not getting used. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all adolescent boys and girls receive the three-dose vaccine series at age 11 or 12. But in 2014, only about 40 percent of eligible teenage girls and just over 21 percent of boys had received the full course, according to the CDC’s latest data. Now, all 69 National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers are joining together to voice their frustration at the low uptake of the HPV vaccine — with the hope of refocusing the lens of the vaccination discussion on cancer prevention. Public debate about the vaccine — and, possibly, the low levels of vaccine use among adolescents — likely stems from the virus’ sexual transmission, said Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center virologist Dr. Denise Galloway. Galloway made critical discoveries linking HPV to cervical and other cancers and her laboratory helped lay the groundwork that made the vaccine’s [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-01-28T12:27:53-07:00January, 2016|Oral Cancer News|