HPV study

Medical Laboratory Observer, March, 2005

HPV study. The National Institutes of Health have granted Anna Giuliano, PhD, of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, FL, $10 million to study the role of men in the transmission of HPV (human papillomavirus), the virus that causes most cervical cancers. Dr. Giuliano's study will follow 3,000 men between the ages of 18 and 44 every six months for four years. The study could help determine whether men should be vaccinated against HPV in order to help prevent cervical cancer in women, the FDA is expected to approve one or more HPV vaccines within the next few years.

Study participants will be recruited in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Cuernavaca, Mexico; and the Tampa Bay area of Florida. The international scope of this study is important because women in Latin America have the world's highest rate of cervical cancer, and Hispanic women in the United States have higher rates of cervical cancer than other U.S. female populations. According to Dr. Giuliano, "the need to understand the natural history of HPV in this shared population is of critical importance to the development of U.S. public health initiatives." For more information about the study, visit www.moffitt.usf.edu/. [To learn more about HPV diagnosis, see MLO's October 2004 cover story, "Diagnostic tests for HPV infection," by Dr. Peter V. ChinHong and Dr. Jeffrey D. Klausner.]