The underrated pandemic of the 21st century: the human papillomavirus. Its impact on the pathogenesis of cervical cancer Keywords:

Abstract

This millennium has arrived with new challenges to modern medicine. One of such challenges is the infection by human papillomavirus (HPV) and its relation to the pathogenesis of several types of cancer such as cancer of cervix, neck, head, penis, vulva, vagina, among others. With the development of new techniques for detecting and typing HPV, its presence in more than 99 % of biopsies from patients with cervical cancer was determined. Furthermore, there are about 200 types of HPV, 40 of them infecting the genital tract, being types 6, 11, 16 and 18 the most epidemiologically important ones. Currently, cervical cancer holds the second in place prevalence of all cancers of women worldwide and the fifth leading cause of cancer death in this group. In addition, each year are diagnosed approximately 500 000 new cases and about half of the patients die. Between 2006 and 2008, two preventive vaccines against HPV (Gardasil and Cervarix) came on the market, showing an efficiency of almost 100 %. However, they are very expensive for developing countries. The objective of this manuscript is to review HPV and its relationship to CCU as well as its national and global epidemiological situation and the possible ways for prevention and treatment.