HPV and Non-Cervical Cancers

A new study reiterates mounting evidence that HPV (human papillomavirus) is involved in more than just cervical cancer. The recent study, looking at detection methods for HPV virus, confirms, "HPV is detectable in approximately a quarter of all squamous cell head and neck cancers, and is particularly prevalent in the oropharynx [back of the mouth] in which the positivity rates approach 40%." In previous studies, HPV has been established as a cause of 70%-76% of cervical cancers, 90%-93% of anal cancers and about half of penile cancers. The current public health recommendation that the HPV vaccine (Gardasil) be given only to girls is very much the subject of heated debate among adolescent physicians and policy makers.Should the HPV vaccine be given to boys too?

The good news from previous studies, the viral form of head and neck cancer is more curable.  People with HPV-specific head and neck cancers had much greater survival rates (a 60% better chance) than people whose cancers did not test positive for the HPV virus. While smoking and alcohol consumption are considered risk factors for head and neck cancer, researchers are beginning to take a look at associations between sexual practices and head and neck cancers. 

Researchers from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute, writing in the Journal of Adolescent Health this past spring had this to say: "The high proportion of cervical and noncervical cancers caused by HPV types 16 and 18, that is, 70%-76% for cervical cancers and 63%-95% for noncervical cancers, underscores the potential for prevention of a majority of cervical as well as noncervical HPV-related cancers through prophylactic HPV vaccination."

Researchers in Europe have begun to calculate the cost-benefits of giving the vaccine to boys in light of new associations between HPV and non-cervical cancers. Similar research in the U.S. can't be far behind.