HPV: vaccination prevents cancer precursors
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichThe vaccination against HPV is supposed to protect women from viruses that cause cervical cancer. An Australian study provides indications that this could actually work: At least precursors of the tumors are less common in vaccinated young women.
The HPV vaccination has so far only proven its effectiveness in clinical studies. How well it protects in the "wild" is still open. The reason: the cancer develops over many years - the vaccination has not been used on a large scale for that long. Scientists working with David Withman have therefore focused on changes in the uterine lining from which cancer can develop.
Search for precancerous stages
The study included data from more than 100,000 young women from Australia, where the first major HPV vaccination program was carried out in 2007. Using mucosal swabs taken four years later, the researchers identified 1,062 women who already had cancer precursors, as well as more than 11,000 women whose swabs showed other forms of mucosal changes. The smear was normal in 96,000 participants.
Triple vaccination offers some protection
The researchers compared the findings with the women’s HPV vaccination status. Participants who received full HPV vaccination with three vaccinations were 46 percent less likely to develop precancerous stages than unvaccinated women. They were 34 percent less likely to experience other forms of change.
Women who had only received two vaccinations beforehand also benefited: their risk of cancer precursors and other changes was still 21 percent lower.
Critical voices
The HPV vaccination is celebrated by some as one of the first preventive vaccinations against cancer. Critics, however, point out that the vaccination only works against two cancer-causing types of viruses, HPV 16 and HPV 18. These are said to be responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. It is not certain, however, that other carcinogenic HPV types are not using the gap that arises when types 16 and 18 are increasingly displaced.
The Standing Vaccination Commission at the Robert Koch Institute (STIKO) recommends the HPV vaccination for all girls between 12 and 17 years of age. The vaccination with a total of three doses should be completed before the first sexual intercourse.
Source: David Withman: Effectiveness of quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine for the prevention of cervical abnormalities: case-control study nested within a population based screening program in Australia, BMJ 2014; 348: g1458
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