Date:         Wed, 21 Feb 2001 11:18:05 -0800
Reply-To:     Bill Davidson <wdavidson@THEGRID.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bill Davidson <wdavidson@THEGRID.NET>
Subject:      Re: HPV Vaccine for Cervical Cancer
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Opps....
my apologies to the list...
obviously sent this to the wrong list...

Bill

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Davidson" <wdavidson@THEGRID.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 9:18 AM
Subject: HPV Vaccine for Cervical Cancer


> The following article is from today's Wall Street Journal.
> It's not about the strain of HPV that causes RRP. But if it works they may
> eventually get around to a vaccine for the strain(s) of the HPV viruse
that
> causes RRP... would be nice...
>
> Bill Davidson
>
> Vaccine to Combat Cervical Cancer
> Passes Crucial Human Safety Test
> Associated Press
>
>
> WASHINGTON -- Government scientists have created a potential vaccine
against
> a virus that causes cervical cancer, a promising development against a
> cancer that each year kills 200,000 women world-wide.
>
> The experimental vaccine just passed its first human safety test but has
> years more testing ahead to prove if it does protect women against cancer.
> Still, "the prospects for this vaccine are remarkably promising," said
> Harald zur Hausen, a cervical cancer expert in Heidelberg, Germany. He
> reviewed the research in Tuesday's Journal of the National Cancer
Institute.
>
> Until a vaccine becomes reality, a widely available virus test is highly
> effective at telling which of some two million American women with
> inconclusive Pap smears each year need further cancer exams -- and who can
> relax, says a second study in the journal.
>
> Digene Corp.'s virus test is "a very good option," NCI chief researcher
> Diane Solomon said. Not everyone needs virus testing, Dr. Solomon
stressed.
> Most U.S. women with cervical cancer didn't get yearly Pap smears, which
are
> remarkably successful at catching precancerous cells in time to prevent
> cancer. But when that exam isn't conclusive, Digene's test may help those
> women decide if they need a biopsy, or, by ruling out viral infection,
> provide "excellent reassurance" that they're healthy and should continue
> just regular Pap testing.
>
> Digene, based in Gaithersburg, Md., develops and sells biotechnology-based
> diagnostic tests.
>
> Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is a sexually transmitted virus that infects
> some 40 million Americans. There are more than 80 strains, the vast
majority
> symptomless and harmless. But some strains cause cervical cancer,
including
> HPV-16, considered the riskiest and the one the experimental vaccine
> targets.
>
> Cervical cancer strikes 400,000 women world-wide every year, including
> almost 13,000 U.S. women. The global toll is much higher because women in
> developing countries can't afford those $25 Pap smears, so doctors there
are
> hoping anxiously for a vaccine.
>
> NCI researcher Douglas Lowy and colleagues created a vaccine against
HPV-16
> that showed promise at preventing infection in animals. A Phase 1 safety
> testing in 72 healthy people found no serious side effects.
>
> Most participants' blood developed 40 times more virus-fighting antibodies
> after vaccination than do people naturally infected with HPV. Those are
> "sky-high levels," and "the higher the immune response, the more likely it
> is that you will get protection," Dr. Lowy said.
>
> To prove if the vaccine prevents HPV-16 infection and consequently reduces
> cancer, NCI researchers plan to begin studying thousands of women next
year
> in Costa Rica, where cervical cancer is far more prevalent. The study will
> take as many as eight years -- and even if it succeeds, doctors must
develop
> vaccines against other cancer-causing HPV strains, too, Dr. Lowy
cautioned.
>