Cancer vaccine boost

Wednesday July 14th, 2010

The controversial cervical cancer vaccine may prove to be more successful in England than had previously been hoped, researchers said today.

A new analysis suggests it may cut cases of cervical cancer by as much as 75 per cent.

The vaccine against the human papillomavirus is designed to prevent two types of the virus and previous projections had suggested it might prevent 70 per cent of cases.

It was introduced nationally for girls of secondary school age in 2008 - causing some protests.

A new study, reported in the British Journal of Cancer, reports on studies of women with cervical disease in England. This showed between 73 to 77 per cent of cases caused by type 16 or 18 of the virus - the type included in the vaccine. Researchers said another three to four per cent of cases involved similar types of virus, that might also be prevented by the vaccine.

The researchers said the vaccine could cut the number of cases of cervical cancer each year from 3,000 to 700.

Researcher Dr Kate Soldan, of the Health Protection Agency, said: "We've found that, if vaccine uptake is good, the HPV vaccine should prevent the majority of cases of cervical cancer in this country.

"Because the vaccine is given to teenage girls and cervical cancer affects adult women, it will be some years before we see the actual impact of immunisation, but we do expect to start seeing these effects in coming years, as vaccinated girls become adults."

R Howell-Jones et al (2010), Multi-site study of HPV type-specific prevalence in women with cervical cancer, intraepithelial neoplasia and normal cytology, in England, The British Journal of Cancer, vol 104, July 14 2010

Tags: Cancer | Flu & Viruses | UK News | Women’s Health & Gynaecology

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