Posts Tagged ‘HPV vaccine’

As HPV-Associated Cancer Incidence Rates Rise: What’s the Value of the HPV Vaccine?

February 15th, 2013 By Winship Cancer Institute

HPV Vaccine Cervical CancerA recent report from the National Health Institute shows that overall cancer rates among men and women are on the decline but the incidence rates of certain HPV-associated cancers are increasing. This news concerns healthcare professionals because they know there is a vaccine on the market that can prevent cervical cancer in girls and decrease the incidence of other HPV-related cancers. Gardasil, FDA approved and released in 2006, is a vaccine that helps protect girls ages 9 – 26 against two types of HPV that cause about 75% of cervical cancer cases, as well as two other types of HPV that cause genital warts, vaginal, vulvar, anal and oropharyngeal (head and neck, back-of-throat, tongue and tonsils) cancers.

The report also showed that the US vaccination rates among young girls, compared to other industrialized nations, are low. In 2010, less than 50% of girls ages 13 through 17 had received one HPV vaccine dose and unfortunately only a third received all three recommended doses. Completion rates were lower in certain areas of the country and with different population groups:

  • Girls living in the South
  • Girls living below poverty level
  • Hispanic girls

The US Government’s Healthy People 2020 target is 80 percent for the three dose coverage. It is important to educate healthcare providers and parents of the importance of completing the 3- dose vaccine schedule. The vaccine is safe and effective. It also is a great example of the medical advances that cancer researchers and clinicians can point to in the struggle against cancer. We could save the lives of many women and men by encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated today!

To get more information on the vaccine we recommend you speak to your pediatrician or child’s primary care physician. You can also review other blogs from Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University physicians (listed below), or visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

Related Resources:

 

Share|

Read More | (0)

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and Head and Neck Cancer

January 4th, 2013 By Emory Cancer Care

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 2,300 cases of HPV associated head and neck cancers are diagnosed each year in women and more than 9,000 in men. Although alcohol and tobacco continue to be major risk factors for developing cancer of the mouth, throat or voice box, recent studies by the CDC have shown that approximately 63% of cancers associated with the tonsils and base of tongue are associated with HPV. Join Emory Head and Neck Surgical Oncologist, Mark W. El-Deiry, MD FACS on Thursday, January 24 at 12 noon for an online web chat on HPV and Head & Neck Cancer. He will be available to answer questions regarding HPV and Head and Neck Cancer including:

• What is HPV?
• What are HPV-related head and neck cancers?
• How do you get tested for HPV?
• What are the symptoms of an HPV infection?
• Is there a vaccine for HPV?
• Lesions in the mouth and throat?
• Should I get my head and neck cancer tested for HPV?
• Are there any studies related to HPV and head and neck cancers?
• What is Emory doing to educate and prevent head and neck cancers?

Related Links

Share|

Read More | (0)

Get the Real 4-1-1 on HPV

January 20th, 2012 By Emory Cancer Care

Cervical Cancer Awareness HPVWho could have imagined that a three-letter virus – HPV — could generate so much confusion and controversy?

Oh, wait, there is precedence for all the political posturing, fear and mis-information about HPV, the human papillomavirus, one of the most common sexually transmitted infections. We saw the same take place around HIV, a far more deadly virus and one that continues to wreak havoc and claims thousands of lives a year. And it took decades of advocacy, much of which is still ongoing, to bring attention to the need to stop HIV in its tracks, before it leads to AIDS. That same advocacy and public health campaigning is now underway to help consumers better understand HPV and what people can do about it, and how important it is for young people to receive vaccines that can protect them from infection with the virus.

Researchers have identified more than 40 types of HPV, a very common virus that the human body normally sheds on its own. Two types – HPV 16 and HPV 18 — are of special concern in the cancer community, though, because, undetected and untreated, they lead to most cases of cervical cancer. Now one of them, HPV16, is proving to be the cause of most new cases of throat cancers that develop at the base of the tongue and tonsils.

Routine pap tests and annual gynecological exams have lowered cervical cancer incidence in the United States, but cervical cancer is still one of the leading cancer killers of women worldwide. Thus, great research emphasis was placed on finding a vaccine to prevent infection with HPV 16 and 18 in the first place. Now there are two such HPV vaccines licensed by the FDA to prevent the spread of HPV and thus to prevent cervical cancer.

While screening with the Pap test has long proven an effective way to help prevent cervical cancer in developed countries, screening for HPV 16 infection for throat or other kinds of cancer would be fruitless. While 20 million Americans are estimated to be living with HPV 16 in their systems, 90% of those people will clear the virus on their own. A big concern with HPV 16 and throat cancer is that doctors do not yet understand why the virus becomes cancer in some.

Because the virus is so widespread yet causes cancer in a relatively small percentage of cases of infection, screening for it does not make sense, explains Dr. Shin, a leading head and neck cancer specialist at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. The most important unanswered question about HPV16 and throat cancer is why does it develop into cancer in some people but not in the majority of people.

“How does this virus get into a host cell and then go into carcinogenesis? This is what we would like to address,” explains Dr. Dong Moon Shin. Winship researchers such as Shin are aggressively looking for answers.

Much of the confusion and political hoopla about HPV have stemmed from misinformation about the vaccine, which is unfortunate. The vaccine is safe. It is effective. Because of the rising incidence of oropharyngeal cancer, it is now advised that both girls and boys also receive the vaccine, which is given in a series of three shots. To be effective, the shots must be given before a girl or boy becomes sexually active and is not administered to females after they hit age 26. Some of the concern about the vaccine is that parents don’t like the idea of giving children another round of vaccines, but the HPV vaccines have been approved by the FDA after rigorous clinical trials. They work.

HPV facts & stats:

  • More than 40 types of HPV have been identified by researchers.
  • More than 20 million adult Americans are believed to be living with the HPV 16 virus.
  • In 90 percent of cases, the body’s immune system clears HPV within two years.

Prognosis for cases of HPV16-caused throat cancer is good, so long as the patient is a non-smoker. Winship researchers and others are looking for ways to identify whether patients with HPV16-caused throat cancer need as much treatment as patients whose cancer is not caused by the virus.

Dr. Peter Rossi and Dr. Namita Khanna just hosted an online chat on the topic of HPV and cervical cancer. For their thoughts, check out the HPV / Cervical Cancer chat transcript.

Related Resources:

Share|

Read More | (0)

HPV16 Vaccine Safe and Effective

September 19th, 2011 By Emory Cancer Care

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University

Some cancers remain stubborn to treat. Pancreatic cancer, small cell lung cancer, late stage breast cancer and ovarian cancer are just a few of them. So when researchers find treatments – and even better, ways to prevent cancer – we celebrate.

Scientists at Winship Cancer Institute and many other research centers were therefore concerned about a recent statement that a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer causes mental illness. The statement is not accurate. The vaccine is safe. It is also effective. It is a great example of the medical advances that cancer researchers and clinicians can point to in the struggle against cancer.

The vaccine, which prevents the spread of Human Papilloma Virus-16 or HPV-16, has been approved by the FDA for use in girls who are not yet sexually active.  The vaccine is also under consideration for approval in boys to help prevent the spread of HPV16-related head and neck cancers caused by the same virus. Many researchers and clinicians consider HPV16-related head and neck cancers to be at epidemic levels.

“We don’t need to wait until all these molecular events are understood,” said Dong Moon Shin, M.D., director of Winship Cancer Institute’s head and neck cancer prevention program.  “This vaccine is successful in preventing cervical cancer, and we are hoping the vaccine provide similar preventive properties in head and neck cancer. We are very hopeful.”

Share|

Read More | (1)