HPV

HPV can be diagnosed via cervical or anal pap smear or during a healthcare examination of dysplasia or warts.

The virus that causes HPV cannot be cured. If dysplasia or warts caused by HPV are found, they can be treated by infrared coagulation, freezing, chemicals, prescription medications or surgical excision.

University of Rochester and the HPV Vaccine

The last twenty-five years have been a golden age for the University’s division of Infectious Diseases (ID), beginning with the approval of a vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer approximately eighty percent of which is caused by specific strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV).  In the 1990’s at the University of Rochester, William Bonnez, MD, Richard Reichman, MD, and Robert Rose, PhD developed the key technology behind the vaccine.  As part of his PhD thesis (1994) in the department of Microbiology & Immunology, Rose inserted the gene for the HPV capsid protein into baculovirus.  This noninfectious “empty capsid” assumed the correct folded shape of the infectious virus and provoked the same immune response as infectious particles.  This virus-like particle (VLP) technology, for which the three investigators were awarded several patents, set off a race between the University of Rochester and three other institutions to develop a vaccine against HPV. 

This proved to be the basis for Merck’s Gardasil vaccine for HPV (along with patents issued to the University of Queensland, the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), and Georgetown University), which received FDA approval in 2006 for use in girls ages nine to twenty-six.  In 2011, the CDC recommended that boys and young men also receive the vaccine to prevent HPV-mediated oral and anal cancers.  The impact of the vaccine was described in a 2023 publication, in which it was reported that from 2008 to 2022, rates for precancerous lesions decreased approximately eighty percent among twenty- to twenty-four year-old women who were screened for cervical cancer.

In 2009, in recognition of this important breakthrough in the history of cancer treatment, Bonnez, Reichman, and Rose were awarded the George Eastman Medal. In 2014, the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) asked the oncology community to identify and rank the five most important advances in cancer research and patient care over the past 50 years; the HPV vaccine for cervical cancer was selected as the #2 advance in the field of oncology research over that period.  The royalties from the University’s HPV patents were instrumental in establishing several endowed professorships and recruiting outstanding physician-scientists, particularly within the department of Medicine.

A diagnosis of HPV can be very concerning, and our UR Medicine providers are here to help address your questions and provide answers in a private, caring, and expert way.

Our team of experts specialize in what’s needed to treat patients with HPV. We coordinate care tailored to the needs of patients and families, in partnership with other providers. As part of an academic medical center, our clinicians are also active in research.