GynoFiles

The long held belief about cervical cancer is that first there is HPV infection, then the infection begins to induce cellular changes from mild, to moderate, to severe, and then the infection unleashes the control of the cervical cell life cycle that makes it 'immortal' or in medical terms: cancerous. At any point the HPV infection can either be latent or completely resolved. Thus testing could either be for the cell changes, the HPV infection itself, or some sort of combination testing, which is what eventually has been adopted. Since the process is fairly slow in most cases, the thought is that screening can be performed less frequently in many women. We have a strategy to protect women from the first infection ever, but no strategy for infection resolution per se. Women who end up with procedures (biopsies, cones, LEEPs) are a bit more likely to begin testing negative for the HPV infection, so perhaps these procedures do help us eradicate HPV infection. New HPV therapeut...

In recent studies, using tests specifically for research (you cannot just go to a lab and get this test) they have been studying the fact that, although HPV infections are technically only in very superficial tissue, we do form an immune reaction to exposure to the virus. This is basically the information that was used to develop the first HPV vaccines, but with those vaccines the antibody levels may be slightly different or better than antibodies we can form by being exposed. Castellasgue and researchers have been discovering that most people who get exposed to the HPV virus will form some sort of naturally acquired antibodies. They have discovered that in response to getting exposed to HPV about 50-70% of individuals can be found to even develop develop type-specific antibodies, in other words, an antibody which would even show which type of HPV you have become infected with. It is as of yet unclear whether naturally acquired antibodies provides future protection against rein...