HPV vaccine prevents head and neck cancers in men, study finds

The HPV vaccine is associated with a drastic reduction in head and neck cancers in adolescents and men, new research shows.

HPV, or human papillomavirus, is a sexually transmitted infection responsible for virtually all cases of cervical cancer. But the virus is also linked to a number of other cancers, including penile, anal and vaginal cancers.

It also accounts for the majority – up to 70% – of head and neck cancers, which affect the throat and mouth. Men are about twice as likely to develop these cancers as women, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The HPV vaccine, initially approved for adolescent girls, protects against strains of the virus linked to cervical cancer and has been shown to significantly reduce cancer rates. But there is growing evidence that the vaccine also protects against other HPV-related cancers.

“We want men to view HPV vaccination not only as something that protects female patients, but also male patients,” said Jefferson DeKloe, a researcher in the University’s Department of Otolaryngology. Thomas Jefferson, who specialized in head and neck surgery and co-authored the research.

The findings will be presented next week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference and have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Previous research has shown a downward trend in oral infections caused by strains of HPV known to cause cancer. It was a promising sign, said Dr. Glenn J. Hanna, a medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Head and Neck Cancer Center, who was not involved in the new research.

“If we can reduce the infection rate, we hope to see what we’re seeing now, a decline in cancer rates,” Hanna said. “This is an important development in history.”

The new study analyzed health records from a national database including nearly 3.5 million people in the United States aged 9 to 39 who had received a vaccination – against HPV or otherwise – from 2010 to 2023. About 1.5 million were men, half of whom had been vaccinated. vaccinated against carcinogenic strains of HPV. Nearly a million people were women vaccinated against HPV.

Researchers compared rates of HPV-related cancers – including head and neck, anal, penile and cervical cancers – in people who received the HPV vaccine to those who had not received it. They found that vaccination reduced the overall risk of HPV-related cancers in men by 54%, a decrease mainly driven by a drop in head and neck cancers. Women were about 30% less likely to develop any type of HPV-related cancer, including cervical cancer.

Most cases of head and neck cancer affect people over the age of 50. Because the United States only began widely vaccinating men and women against HPV about a decade ago, the vaccinated generation has not yet reached that age. HPV typically infects younger people, and it takes decades for chronic infection to lead to cancer.

“These are the first results of a larger phenomenon that we’re going to see over the next 20 or 30 years,” DeKloe said, noting that experts don’t expect to see the full effect of HPV vaccination on cancer rates before HPV vaccination was widely effective. the vaccinated generation is older.

A second study, which will also be presented at the ASCO conference next week and is not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, found that HPV vaccination rates increased in the United States between 2011 and early 2020, including all races. and ethnic groups.

HPV vaccination was not recommended for men until 2011, five years after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the vaccine series for girls. The HPV vaccine is now recommended for all adolescents starting at age 9, but can also be given to adults up to age 45.

In the new study, which included children and young adults ages 9 to 26, the increase was largely driven by increasing HPV vaccination among men. Although overall HPV vaccination rates among men still lag behind women — about 36% compared to about 50% among 9- to 26-year-olds — these rates are accelerating.

“The gap is closing between men and women and I hope that one day they will find each other,” said Dr. Danh Nguyen, a resident physician at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who led the research .

Although vaccination efforts have focused on adolescents, adults should also consider getting vaccinated if they weren’t vaccinated when they were younger, said Dr. Nancy Lee, head of the radio service. -head and neck oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. did not participate in either study.

“If you are between 20 and 30 years old, you can still get vaccinated. Even if you are 45 years old, there is no reason why you cannot get vaccinated because we have a long-lived population,” Lee said.

Nguyen said it’s important that conversations about HPV vaccination continue to focus on preventing all cancers, including head and neck cancers that are more common in men, rather than just on the prevention of cervical cancer.

Hanna said the stigma around HPV as a sexually transmitted infection has made discussions about vaccinating adolescents a touchy subject in the past, but that clear data showing the impact of vaccination rates on HPV-related cancers HPV are changing the narrative.

“HPV vaccination is cancer prevention,” Hanna said. “Ultimately, we prevent cancer on a large scale by getting people vaccinated at a younger age. »