Cervical cancer vaccine breakthrough

TRIALS on a vaccine for cervical cancer have shown it protects women for up to four-and-a-half years, according to research published yesterday.

The new research, published by The Lancet, involved studying a vaccine for the common types of Human Papilloma Virus, HPV-16 and HPV-18. The sexually transmitted virus is the most important risk factor for cervical cancer. Risk of contracting HPV increases with increasing numbers of sexual partners.

The research, which took place in the US, involved 800 women. Dr Diane Harper, of the Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire, and her team conducted follow-up tests, using smear test samples, on the women who took part in a 2004 trial of the vaccine. The women had either received three doses of the HPV-16/HPV-18 vaccine or a dummy pill. The researchers found that women given the vaccine had high levels of antibodies against HPV-16 and HPV-18 for over four years after receiving the last dose.