University of New
Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center
A research paper
published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases reported that the
human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is safe and efficacious across a wide age
range of women.
The international study found that it protects against HPV
infection in women older than 26 years. Vaccination programs worldwide
currently target routine vaccination of women 26 years and younger.
The study recruited
women in 12 countries across four continents. Cosette Wheeler, PhD, at The
University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, was the lead author of
the report.
The human papillomaviruses
cause cancer of the cervix, anus, and middle throat. Five types of HPV account
for about 85 percent of all invasive cervical cancer cases. HPV vaccines are
expected to prevent most of these cancer cases.
Many countries
routinely vaccinate girls and boys 25 years and younger, although vaccination
rates in the United States remain low. In the US, only about 40 percent of
girls and 21 percent of boys receive the three-dose vaccination series. The
earlier the vaccine is given, the more efficacious it can be.
This study focused on
the benefit of vaccinating women 26 years and older. Infection with HPV can
take place at any time throughout adulthood and women in this age group may
have already been exposed to HPV.
The scientists
followed each woman for four to seven years. They found that the vaccine
protected the women against HPV infections during the follow-up period and that
the women were protected from many types of HPV across a broad age range.
These
study results are essential to new approaches in cancer prevention,
particularly those that are investigating combined approaches of cervical
screening and vaccination in adult women.
Cosette Wheeler, PhD
is a UNM Regents Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Obstetrics and
Gynecology at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. She holds
the Victor and Ruby Hansen Surface Endowed Chair in Translational Medicine and
Public Health.
Her New Mexico research group has contributed for over 20 years to
understanding the molecular epidemiology of human papillomaviruses (HPV) in
cervical precancer and cancer among Native American, Hispanic and non-Hispanic
women of the southwest and on a global basis.
She has overseen a number of
large-scale multidisciplinary population-based projects that have ultimately
enabled advances in primary (HPV vaccines) and secondary cervical cancer
prevention (Pap and HPV tests).