Vaccination in eliminating human papillomavirus (HPV)-related diseases and beyond

Infection of oncogenic types of human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause six types of cancers, occurring in cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus and oropharynx.

To date, HPV vaccination has been shown to have remarkable effectiveness in preventing the vaccine-type HPV infections and cervical disease in women, but less is known for the effectiveness of sex-neutral HPV vaccination program.

The purpose of the project is to assess the impact of HPV vaccination programs in preventing HPV-related diseases and the potential benefits for pregnancy outcomes in large-scale epidemiological studies, utilizing nationwide Swedish registers.

We proposed four working packages aiming to 1) examine the long-term impact of HPV vaccination on cervical cancer 2) evaluate the effectiveness of sex-neutral HPV vaccination 3) investigate the potential benefits (indirect effectiveness) on pregnancy outcomes 4) predict the impact of HPV vaccination on HPV-attributable cancers.

The research is of great clinical significance and highly relevant to the Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer launched by WHO and United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4 to reduce child mortality.

The project will be conducted over a 4-year period and involves collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of experts in epidemiology, infectious diseases, gynecology and obstetrics, health economics, and biostatistics, both within Sweden and beyond.