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Cervical Cancer & HPV


Today, few women are aware that cervical cancer is caused by a wide-spread virus and that the majority of women will have it during their lives.  In fact, many baby boomers are not aware that before the mid-1940’s, cervical cancer claimed more women’s lives that any other form of cancer.

Today, few women are aware that cervical cancer is caused by a wide-spread virus and that the majority of women will have it during their lives.  In fact, many baby boomers are not aware that before the mid-1940’s, cervical cancer claimed more women’s lives that any other form of cancer. 

Background: Cervical cancer is caused by a group of viruses called the human papilllomavirus (HPV). About 30 strains of HPV exist. For a virus with which many women are not familiar, HPV is surprisingly wide-spread. It has been estimated that up to 80% of all sexually active women will be exposed to HPV during their lives. Fortunately, HPV usually disappears by itself and most women will not notice any symptoms. So few women realize they have it. Surprisingly, HPV currently infects about 20 million women.

Since the Pap test was introduced as a routine screening, which can detect abnormal, pre-cancerous and cancerous cells in the cervix, there has been a dramatic drop in the number of women who lose their lives to cervical cancer.

However, many women living in 3rd World and developing countries who do not have access to routing screenings still suffer. It is estimate that about 500,000 women around the world are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year. About half of them will die of the disease.

Treatment options: Like most other cancers, cervical cancer can be treated effectively if diagnosed early. Common treatment options include surgery and chemotherapy. But the most effective way to deal with cervical cancer is to prevent HPV from causing it.

The Future:   Fortunately, only two especially aggressive strains account for the majority of cervical cancer cases. In recent years, researchers have directed efforts to prevent HPV from causing cervical cancer.

Recently, the US Food & Drug Administration approved a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.  The vaccine is approved for 9 to 26 year old girls and women.  

What You Can Do: Talk to your doctor or healthcare professional to determine your risk of developing cervical cancer.

 Nonsurgical Options for Cervical Cancer

 

Advances in the treatment options for diseases associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV) include nonsurgical options such as vaccines and chemoprevention.

Previously, the standard treatment has been to surgically remove the infected tissue, which puts some patients at risk for reproductive consequences and does not ensure that all infected tissue has been eliminated. Methods such as chemoprevention and vaccines eliminate these risks and present possible cures without invasive means.

Chemoprevention involves the use of micronutrients or pharmaceutical agents to delay or prevent the development of cancer from HPV in healthy patients. Treatment of infected tissues can be monitored through colposcopy, which is relatively noninvasive, since the cervix is readily available. Two different types of vaccines are being used. One is a prophylactic vaccine that focuses on human immune responses to help prevent HPV infection. The other vaccine is a therapeutic vaccine that stimulates the immune response to eliminate cells already infected.

While surgery has been the standard treatment for HPV-related disease to date, researchers comment that other viral diseases are not treated that way. New research underway is reviewing treatments in order to make further advances in nonsurgical options.

 

Simple Pledges to Prevent Cervical Cancer

 
- I'll make sure to have regular pap smears to detect any abnormal cells.
- I'll talk to adolescent and teenage girls about the number of women with HPV.
- I'll tell a friend what I've learned about HPV and cervical cancer.

 

Cancer Group Lists Top Advances for 2005

 

Science's slow but relentless advance against cancer continued in 2005 with breakthroughs in the treatment of breast, lung, stomach and other killer malignancies.

That was the conclusion of the first-ever annual report on clinical cancer research by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which was released Friday.

"The take-home message is that we are making steady progress in the management of a wide variety of cancers," ASCO President Dr. Sandra J. Horning told HealthDay at a news briefing in New York City.

"Many of the advances that we described in the report are currently being applied to newly diagnosed cancer patients," Horning said. Others aren't immediately available, "but look extremely promising," she added. The ASCO report focuses on treatments, not basic science, and was drawn up by a group of 21 experts who reviewed data from studies published in major journals between November 2004 and October 2005.

Their list of the most important breakthroughs includes:

Herceptin (trastuzumab) combats breast cancer. Up to 30 percent of breast cancer patients have malignancies that overproduce the HER-2 protein, and these cancers have been notoriously resistant to therapy. However, a recent study found Herceptin slashed cancer recurrence in this high-risk group by half. "Many in the breast cancer community feel this is one of the most important breast cancer advances in decades," Horning said.

Chemotherapy boosts survival after lung-cancer surgery. A major study found that "adjuvant" (post-surgery) chemotherapy greatly reduced the risk of tumor recurrence in patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancers. Experts have debated the usefulness of adjuvant chemotherapy against these tumors for years, and "these findings resolve the debate," Horning said.

Avastin (bevacizumab) fights advanced lung and colon cancers. This "angiogenesis inhibitor" drug, which cuts off the tumor's blood supply, proved effective in a recent trial in extending survival for patients with tough-to-treat advanced colon and non-small cell lung cancers. "This is the first study to show that a targeted therapy added to [standard] chemotherapy could improve survival" for these patients, Horning said.

Chemotherapy before surgery boosts stomach cancer survival. Updated results from a major British trial showed that a combination of chemotherapy drugs given before surgery significantly increased five-year survival for patients with stomach cancer. "These findings are changing the way gastric cancer is treated in the United States," said Dr. Roy S. Herbst, ASCO's chairman of cancer communications.

Two new cervical cancer vaccines adding protection. While Pap smears have nearly eliminated cervical cancer in the developed world, the disease still kills thousands of women each year in poorer countries. However, two new vaccines appear to protect women against infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV), which is thought to trigger most cervical cancers.

Other notable advances included the success of the drug oxaliplatin in fighting colon cancer recurrence; the use of Rituxan and Bexxar combination therapy against B-cell lymphomas; Revlimid's success in treating killer bone marrow disorders called myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); the use of temozolomide in boosting brain tumor survival; and the success of the drug Erbitux against head and neck cancers, the researchers said.

Many of these drugs fall into the category of "targeted" therapies, in which treatments are tailored to fight specific cancer types and used in patients with specific genetic or immunological profiles.

"This is what we call the 'individualization' of cancer therapy," Horning said. "We're moving toward tailoring treatment for patients, based on a knowledge of their individual tumor and also their genetic predisposition to [drug] toxicity."

But even though research continues to bear fruit every year, some of these drugs come with a high price tag. In fact, a study released earlier this week found that one year's supply of Herceptin could cost $40,000 per patient.

"It's true that the newer, targeted therapies are expensive," Horning said. "That's why it's extremely important for us to learn more about how best to use them, to better understand which patients will clearly benefit. For instance, one of the trials included in this report compared [the effectiveness of] one year vs. two years of Herceptin use. It's by addressing these types of questions scientifically that we can get answers on how best to use these drugs."

Expensive and imperfect as many of these therapies might be, real progress is being made against a wide range of malignancies, Horning added.

"This progress has been the result of an investment in research and the dedication of patients and researchers who've participated in clinical trials -- they've brought about these advances," she said.

 

 

 

 

(This information is general knowledge and can be found in any Doctor's Office, Medical Pharmacy, Public Library or
Dictionary and not a specialized medical teaching generated from Pastor Deborah.  Pastor Deborah sincerely
expects all heads of the family to visit their personal Nutritionist specialist about all nutrition issues without exception)

 

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