A recent large analysis showed that vaccination of boys and men against the human papillomavirus (HPV) reduces their risk of head and neck cancers and other malignancies, adding to the jab’s proven benefit in protecting women from cervical cancer.
The study of more than 3.4m people is one of the first long-term analysis of the vaccine’s real-world effect on preventing HPV-related cancers of the head and neck, anal areas, penis, vulva, vagina and cervix, said the researchers.
Previous studies of the vaccine have focused mainly on cervical cancer, Reuters reports. In one large 2020 study from Sweden, for example, cervical cancer rates were 47 per 100 000 in vaccinated women and 94 per 100 000 in unvaccinated women.
The latest study, scheduled for presentation at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago, included more than 1.7m volunteers who had been vaccinated against HPV since 2010, at some point between ages nine and 39, and roughly equal numbers of similar unvaccinated volunteers.
About 44% were male.
Vaccinated males had lower rates of any HPV-related cancer and of head and neck cancers (3.4 and 2.8 cases, respectively per 100 000 vaccinated patients, compared with 7.5 and 6.3, respectively, per 100 000 unvaccinated patients), the study found.
Smoking was formerly the main driver of many head and neck cancers – such as cancers of the mouth and throat – but today the main cause is HPV infections, said ASCO President Dr Lynn Schuchter, who was not involved in the study.
The new analysis “extends what we know” and shows that preventing infection with the vaccine helps prevent these additional HPV-related cancers, she added.
Vaccinated females had a lower risk of any HPV-related cancers in the study and, as expected, a lower risk of cervical cancer, compared with unvaccinated females.
Vaccination did not significantly reduce their risks for head and neck cancers and vulva or vaginal cancer.
Merck’s HPV vaccine was approved in 2006 for girls and women aged nine to 26, and in 2009 for boys and men in that age group. The most recent version, Gardasil 9, has been approved in the US since 2018 for use in children and adults from nine to 45.
A separate study to be presented at the ASCO meeting found that between 2011 and March 2020, American uptake of the HPV vaccine rose from 23.3% to 43.0% of the eligible population, improving from 7.8% to 36.4% in males and from 37.7% to 49.4% among females.
• Abstracts not yet available
Reuters article – HPV vaccine provides real benefits for men, analysis shows (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Global meta-analysis finds one in five men possibly has cancerous HPV
HPV vaccine shows success in gay and bisexual men — HYPER2 study
An epidemiological insight into HPV status and prognostic gene mutations in head and neck cancer
HPV jab highly effective in preventing cervical cancer – Scottish study