Cervical cancer and pre-cancer cervical growths require single
HPV protein (Medical Xpress)—Human papillomavirus (HPV) has long
been implicated in cervical cancer, but details of how it
happens have remained a mystery. Now researchers at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that a single HPV
protein is required for cervical cancer and even pre-cancer
growths in the cervix to survive. In anticipation of a clinical
trial in humans, the scientists and their collaborators are
moving quickly to test if a gene-silencing technique could
cripple the protein and eliminate cervical cancer and pre-
cancerous growths in specially-bred mice. Cervical cancer is
relatively rare in the United States, thanks to the widespread
use of Pap smears as a screening tool. But pre-cancer lesions in
the cervix, called cervical inter-epithelial neoplasias, or
CINs, are common. Low-grade CINs are typically left alone
because most will shrink and pose no problem. But women with
high-grade CINs have a 10 percent chance of getting