Researcher Wins Nobel Prize For Discovering HPV, Cervical Cancer Link

Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Article Date: 08 Oct 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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Harald zur Hausen, the German researcher who discovered the human papillomavirus, was awarded half of the $1.4 million Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday, the New York Times reports. The discovery eventually led to the development of two vaccines against HPV strains that cause most cases of cervical cancer, which is the second most common cancer among women. The other half of the award went to Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, two French virologists, for their part in the discovery of HIV (Altman, New York Times, 10/7).

According to the Los Angeles Times, zur Hausen of the German Cancer Research Center in 1984 discovered that HPV strain 16 is present in some cervical cancer tumors, almost a decade after he began researching the connection between the virus and the cancer. In 1985, he discovered HPV strain 18 in tumors and then cloned the viruses to make them available to other researchers. Infections with HPV strains 16 and 18 now are known to cause about 70% of all cervical cancer cases (Maugh, Los Angeles Times, 10/7).

A committee at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden that selects the medical winners of the prize said zur Hausen "went against current dogma" by suggesting HPV was a cause of cervical cancer. The committee said that the "global public health burden attributable to human papillomavirus is considerable." In an interview posted on the committee's Web site, zur Hausen said he was "totally surprised" and called the award a "great pleasure" (Stein, Washington Post, 10/7).

Peter Kim, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said zur Hausen's discovery was "the finding that allowed development of Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil." Peter Howley, chair of Harvard University's Pathology Department, said zur Hausen's determination and willingness to share his discoveries made the vaccines possible, adding that "[h]e and his colleagues were very generous in making their [ideas] available to the community" (Flam/McCullough, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/7). An estimated 250,000 women worldwide die of cervical cancer annually, mostly in developing nations (New York Times, 10/7).

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