Human papillomavirus

Human papillomaviruses are ancient small DNA viruses and represent the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world. In the majority, HPV infection is cleared by an incompletely understood immune response. HPV is a necessary but not sufficient cause of cervical cancer, and responsible for a proportion of other anogenital cancers including vulval, vaginal, anal and oropharyngeal. Oncogenesis is likely mediated through viral proteins which hijack host-cell machinery in epithelial keratinocytes and disrupt host tumour-suppressor proteins.
Source: Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine - Category: OBGYN Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research