New knowledge about HPV and cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is almost always due to a long-term infection with human papilloma virus (HPV). Today, HPV tests are used in screening programmes to identify women with increased risk of disease. Modern analyses are highly sensitive, and often find several different types of HPV in the same cell sample. It is unclear, however, whether these extra HPV types are significant for the development of cancer, or whether they originate from preliminary stages of cancer, or other cell changes in the cervix.
 
“In this project we are using advanced molecular techniques to study samples from women with cervical cancer. We will map out where the different HPV types are found in the tissue, and investigate which of them are biologically active. The aim is to clarify whether the tumour is driven by a single type of HPV, while the other HPV types originate from preliminary stages of cancer or other changes in the cervix,” says Sara Bønløkke Lindved, Medical Doctor, PhD, Postdoc, Pathology, Aarhus University Hospital Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University.

The results will give new knowledge about how HPV contributes to the development of cervical cancer, and how finding multiple types of HPV in cell samples should be interpreted.

Sara Bønløkke Lindved believes that in the long term, this knowledge could lead to more precise screening and risk assessment of HPV-positive women, and thus reduce unnecessary examinations and treatments.