HPV Vaccine GARDASIL Reduces Abnormal Pap Results

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Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology;  Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses;  Immune System / Vaccines
Article Date: 14 Mar 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Research findings presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Gynecological Oncologists in Tampa, FL suggest that after girls and women were given a cervical cancer vaccine, there was a significant drop in abnormal Pap test results. Associate professor Warner Huh, M.D. (Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, or UAB) states that his findings indicate that the vaccine GARDASIL seems to halt the development of cell changes that results in cervical disease.

There was a 43% reduction in abnormal Pap test results among women who received the GARDASIL vaccine compared to women who did not. This reduction was noted when testing for high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) - pre-cancerous changes in cervix cells - more than three years after women received the vaccine.

In addition, women who received GARDASIL had a 16 to 35 percent reduction in abnormal Pap results, such as milder pre-malignant cell changes.

It is not certain that GARDASIL prevents cancer, but the results indicate that the vaccine could save thousands of women from being diagnosed with cell abnormality or malignant changes, which would ultimately lead to more tests and perhaps surgery. The study results show that there was a 42 percent reduction in invasive procedures like cervical biopsies for women who received GARDASIL compared to those who did not.

Huh noted, "Clearly the vaccine's benefits include something that can be appreciated by women and daughters fairly quickly." He adds that the initial signs are positive, "and it will take many more years to know definitively if the vaccine prevents cancer."

Huh's findings come from three separate trials involving 18,000 women, 16 to 26 years old. The women, who came from the United States, Europe, and Asia, all had normal Pap smear readings at the trial's beginning.

Currently, GARDASIL has approval to prevent the human papilloma virus (HPV) strains that are thought to lead to 70% of cervical cancers and more than 90% of genital warts cases.

Like other pre-malignant lesions, HPV infections may disappear without causing cervical problems in many unvaccinated women. However, HPV can induce cell changes that slowly put women at greater risk of cervical cancer.

The Society of Gynecologic Oncologists reports that about 25 million U.S. women between the ages of 14 and 59 have HPV, costing about $4 billion annually in screening and treating. "Dr. Huh's study concludes that the trials covered in this paper indicate an overall benefit of vaccination," says a statement from the society.

On the Web:
University Of Alabama at Birmingham
Society of Gynecologic Oncologists

Written by: Peter M Crosta


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