Smooth cure for cervical cancer

A drug that's already in use as a treatment for HIV has been developed into a cream by researchers at Manchester University. It will be used against the human papilloma virus — a sexually transmitted disease that can trigger cervical cancer.

Vaccines against HPV are about to come on the market but doctors have warned women will need to be immunised at a very young age, and it will only protect against some strains of the infection.

A cream would effectively kill HPV in women who already have the disease and where it has caused changes to the cervix, which are the early signs of cancer. Thousands of women could be spared invasive surgery to remove suspected pre-cancerous cells, which can affect their fertility.

Group leader Dr Ian Hampson, who is based at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, said: “It is very exciting to find such a significant new use for this HIV drug, which is already licensed and Food and Drug Administration-approved for oral administration.

We are currently exploring the means of delivering this drug directly to the affected tissue. We would then move to a clinical trial that would be supervised by our head of unit, Professor Henry C. Kitchener. If this proves successful, we could see the treatment available fairly rapidly,'' he said.

Anti-HPV vaccines are currently in the process of being licensed but not all lesions will be prevented and not all women will be vaccinated. A non-surgical therapy will have significant advantages — better preservation of obstetric function, the potential for use in resource-poor settings such as under-developed countries, and it may appeal more to women than surgery.

The research, funded by the Humane Research Trust, has been published in the journal Anti-Viral Therapy and was also being presented at the International HPV meeting in Prague, on September 5, 2006.

— Evening Standard