8 types of virus responsible for 90% of cervical cancers

The 8 HPV types ought to be the main targets for the next generation of vaccines, the researchers suggest.

Vaccines against HPV strains that can cause cervical cancer are already being manufactured by Drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co.

The second most common cancer in women worldwide, cervical cancer is projected to kill almost 328,000 people this year.

Eighty percent of the cervical cancer cases, caused by high-risk and sexually transmitted types of HPV, now occur in developing countries.

Details of the research
The research conducted by an international team of scientists led by Silvia de Sanjose of the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona looked at 60 years previous data from 10,575 cases of invasive cervical cancer across 38 countries.

The countries in the study included Europe, North America, central South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

The research investigated as to which types of HPV contributed most to the global incidence of the disease.

The research revelations
Eight types of HPV types- 16, 18, 45, 33, 31, 52, 58, and 35 in descending order of frequency, were responsible for more than 90 percent of cases, the study revealed.

Further, several rare types of HPV, like type 26, 30, 61, 67, 69, 82, and 91, which can also cause cervical cancer, and account for only one percent of cases worldwide were identified by the researchers.

GSK's vaccine Cervarix and Merck's Gardasil protect against HPV types 16 and 18, and, through cross-protection, partially also against HPV types 31 and 45, the researchers claimed.

Commenting about the study findings in the 'Lancet,' Cosette Wheeler of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in the United States described the research as "a Herculean effort that might be the benchmark for all time."

The results "clearly support future directions for cervical screening and type-specific triage, establish the potential worldwide impact of current HPV vaccines, and set priorities for next-generation vaccines," she wrote.

The study findings were published in the 'Lancet' medical journal on Monday.