Citation

Wójcik L, Samulak D, Makowska M, Romanowicz H, Kojs Z, et al. (2019) The Role of Human Papillomavirus in Cervical Cancer. Int J Cancer Clin Res 6:125. doi.org/10.23937/2378-3419/1410125

Copyright

© 2019 Wójcik L, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Review Article | OPEN ACCESS DOI: 10.23937/2378-3419/1410125

The Role of Human Papillomavirus in Cervical Cancer

Luiza Wójcik1#, Dariusz Samulak2,3#, Marianna Makowska4, Hanna Romanowicz1, Zbigniew Kojs5, Beata Smolarz1* and Magdalena M Michalska2,3

1Laboratory of Cancer Genetics, Department of Pathology, Polish Mother's Memorial Hospital Research Institute, Rzgowska, Poland

2Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Regional Hospital in Kalisz, Poland

3The President Stanisław Wojciechowski State University of Applied Sciences in Kalisz, Poland

4Klinikum Bad Saarow, Germany

5Oncological Gynaecology Chair, Oncology Centre-Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute, Cracow Branch, Poland

#Equal contribution

Abstract

Long-term infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is the cause of cervical cancer and its precursor - cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The presence of HPV infection can be presumed in more than 99% of cases of cervical cancer worldwide. The introduction of DNA testing for the presence of HPV has increased the effectiveness of screening programs for the detection of this cancer. This article contains the latest reports on the structure, function and role of HPV in the development of cervical cancer. It was also underlined the importance of performing molecular tests for the presence of HPV DNA as a more sensitive and the most accurate method of detecting the threat posed by infection with this oncovirus. The review also highlights the most beneficial prophylactic algorithm, which should be guided by gynecologists during the diagnosis, individual clinical cases.