HPV Levels, Smoking, and Cervical Cancer

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Cigarette smoking and high levels of the HPV virus seem to be a risky combination.

New research from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm shows the combination of the two can increase the risk of cervical cancer by as much as 27 times.

Researchers analyzed data from the Pap smear examinations of 105,760 Swedish women. They also looked at smoking behavior with concentrations (known as viral load) of HPV-16 in 499 cervical cancer patients and 499 cancer-free women. HPV-16 is the viral strain most associated with cervical cancer. Results reveal smokers with high HPV-16 viral loads had a 27-fold increase in their risk of developing cervical cancer, compared to smokers without an infection. And compare that increased risk to the only six-fold risk increase for non-smokers with high viral loads.

"Our study would imply a synergistic action between HPV and smoking that would greatly increase the likelihood of women developing cervical cancer if they are HPV-positive smokers," reports lead author Anthony Gunnell. "This would put them in a risk group worthy of careful monitoring."

The results suggest a synergistic effect between smoking and HPV-16, which may occur nearly 10 years before cervical cancer is detected.

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SOURCE: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 2006;15:2141-2147