Australian Research: HPV Vaccination to Prevent Breast Cancer
The human papilloma virus (HPV) represents the main cause for various forms of breast cancer. As an Australian study shows, the negative effects against the human body can be counteracted by a vaccine against HPV. This vaccination can help save the lives of thousands of people. All over the Globe women get sick of breast cancer; 1.1 million were diagnosed with this illness in 2004 and more than half of them died. Statistics in Australia, for example, showed that in 2005, 12,256 women suffered from mammary cancer and 2,618 died the following year. Data revealed that in the past 25 years, 213, 658 Australian women were found suffering from cancer and 63,632 died because of this unforgiving disease.
British Journal of Cancer published the study made by the research team from the Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences department at the University of New South Wales. The team supervised by Professor James Lawson put to test various malignant breast tissues and discovered some key HPV roots. These strains are the main cause of cervical cancer in more than 90 percents of the cases.
The researchers found that the human papilloma virus was present in most of the various nuclei of the breast cancer cells. Thus, the team discovered that HPV was present in 39% of the ductal carcinoma in vitro and almost 21% of ductal carcinoma samples coming from real cancer infected breast tissues. Even though benign or in vitro types of cancer are found only the mammary glands and do not affect other organs, the invading type of cancer is harmful and causes approximately 70% up to 80% of breast cancers.
Having discovered that the human pailloma virus is present in a large number of breast cancers, researchers determined that HPV is the main cause of this disease. As Dr Noel Whitaker, one of the researchers on the team, states: “Confirming a cancer-causing role for HPV in some breast cancers establishes the possibility of preventing some breast cancers by vaccination against HPV”.
Even though these results may seem clear and logical, scientific studies conducted in more than 15 countries came up with varying outcomes. The presence of the harmful human papilloma virus in the samples of breast cancer cells ranged from 4% up to 86%. Moreover, many discussions arose regarding the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test used for its predilection to getting biased. This high discrepancy between research results and the controversial genetic test used (PCR) made it even harder for the researchers to conclude a study about HPV.
In order to get an unbiased result, the research team from the University of New South Wales used in vitro PCR to counteract the contamination of the samples. They state that the outcome of the experiment is valid because they observed the transformations in the nuclei of the breast cancer tissue caused by the presence of HPV. Even though these results were somehow conclusive, researchers strive to develop new testing methods in order to make the studies faster, cost-effective and easier.
