Hollings Cancer Center endorses revised HPV recommendations

Recognizing a critical need to improve national vaccination rates for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, the Hollings Cancer Center has again united with each of the 69 National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers in issuing a joint statement in support of recently revised recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Cancer-causing strains of HPV are the main cause of cervical cancer, and as such the HPV vaccine can prevent thousands of young women, mothers, sisters and daughters from a cancer diagnosis and hundreds of thousands of precancers each year,” said Jennifer Young Pierce, M.D., associate professor of gynecologic oncology and one of two female gynecologic oncologists in South Carolina. “Additionally, it can prevent HPV-related cancers in men, which are still on the rise.”

According to the CDC, incidence rates of HPV-associated cancers have continued to rise, with an estimated 39,000 new HPV-associated cancers diagnosed each year in the United States. Although HPV vaccines can prevent the majority of cervical, anal, oropharyngeal (middle throat) and other genital cancers, vaccination rates remain low across the U.S., with just 41.9 percent of girls and 28.1 percent of boys completing the recommend vaccine series.

South Carolina currently ranks 11th in cervical cancer incidence, and 9th in cervical cancer deaths.  

Updated guidelines from the CDC recommend that all children age 11 to 12 should receive two doses of the HPV vaccine at least six months apart. Adolescents and young adults older than 15 should continue to complete the three-dose series.

Anthony J. Alberg, Ph.D., HCC interim director and associate director of population science, said the development of safe and effective vaccines to prevent HPV infection is the major cancer prevention breakthrough of recent decades. “Being able to prevent cancer in your son or daughter with a few shots is extraordinary. We need all those eligible to take advantage of this opportunity.”

Research suggests a number of barriers in the path of improve vaccination rates, including a lack of strong recommendations from health care providers to vaccinate on time and parents perhaps not understanding how the vaccine can protect children from developing cancer later in life. In an effort to overcome these barriers, NCI-designated cancer centers have organized a continuing series of national summits to share new research, discuss best practices, and identify collective action toward improving vaccination rates.

The original joint statement, published in January 2016, was the major recommendation from a summit hosted at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in November 2015, which brought together experts from the National Cancer Institute, CDC, American Cancer Society and more than half of the NCI-designated cancer centers. The updated statement is the result of discussions from the most recent summit, hosted this summer by The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Nearly 150 experts from across the country gathered in Columbus to present research updates and plan future collaborative actions across NCI-designated cancer centers. HCC will host the next summit of all 69 cancer centers regarding this issue this spring.

Electra Paskett, Ph.D., associate director for population sciences at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Cancer Control Research Program, said they have been inspired by the White House Cancer Moonshot to work together in eliminating cancer. “Improving HPV vaccination is an example of an evidence-based prevention strategy we can implement today to save thousands of lives in the future.”

Did you know?

• In South Carolina, in 2013, 195 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer, and in 2014, 69 women died of cervical cancer.
• From 1996 to 2013, new cases of cervical cancer were about 40 percent higher in African-American/Black women (11.8 cases per 100,000) as compared to white women (8.4 cases per 100,000). From 1996 to 2014, the cervical cancer death rate is more than two times higher in African-American/Black women (5.1 deaths per 100,000) as compared to white women (2.2 deaths per 100,000).
• CDC estimates that approximately 30,700 new cancers are attributable to HPV, including 19,200 among females and 11,600 among males, each year. HPV is a main cause of cervical cancer in women.
• HPV-associated cancers, including cervical, oropharyngeal, and other anogenital cancers (anal, penile, vaginal, vulvar), affect men and women. South Carolina ranks among the highest states in the United States when examining HPV-associated oral cancer in males and females.
• According to the 2015 National Immunization Survey Vaccination Data, about 54 percent of adolescent girls in South Carolina have received one or more doses of HPV vaccine and only 35 percent of adolescent boys received one or more doses of HPV vaccine. The HPV vaccination can protect a generation of South Carolina preteens and teens from cancers caused by HPV, and the state’s rates of HPV vaccination are below the rest of the United States (63 percent for girls, 50 percent for boys).