Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Quick Hit: Can the HPV Vaccine Protect Women from Breast Cancer?

There is an interesting discussion over at Aetiology of whether or not Gardasil, which vaccinates women against the 4 types of human papillomavirus "believed to be responsible for 70% of all cervical cancers," might help protect against breast cancer as well. It is a particularly timely piece, considering that Kentucky's State House passed a bill yesterday that would require that all girls be vaccinated against HPV. Also, you might want to pop by the comments at Aetiology for more interesting conversation on the role of viruses in cancer as well as a debate on the proper managing of trolls. Happy reading!

3 comments:

MarkH said...

I suspect that it will be useful in multiple cancers including throat cancer, which is more common in women (SCC anyway) and is related to HPV. There are good reasons to suspect that the vaccine will beneficially protect against several cancers.

habladora said...

Thanks, Doc! I had no idea that throat cancer was related to HPV. This is another good reason to get all the kiddies vaccinated.

Anonymous said...

Should adults get the HPV vaccine?