HPV Pill: Medicine Next Big Thing? -- Research Summary

BACKGROUND: Genital human papillomavirus (also called HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI). HPV is so common that at least 50% of sexually active men and women get it at some point in their lives. There are more than 40 HPV types that can infect the genital areas of males and females. These HPV types can also infect the mouth and throat area. Most people who become infected with HPV do not even know they have it and it is possible to pass the virus to others years later. (Source: www.cdc.gov)

WHAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW: Most cervical cancers and about 25% of head and neck cancers are caused by HPV. It is thought that in both cases, the infection appears to follow sexual contact with an infected partner. RRP (Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis) is a disease of the respiratory tract caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). It causes tumor-like lesions to grow on the larynx and, in some cases, in the trachea and lungs. They invariably cause voice difficulties, including hoarseness and vocal fatigue. They can occasionally convert into cancer. Left untreated, the lesions may grow, causing suffocation and death. Few people have ever heard of RRP. Although the HPV virus that causes Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis is widespread (the CDC has estimated that tens of millions of people in the United States are infected with HPV), the prevalence of RRP is very low. It has been estimated that there are 10-25,000 people in the United States with this disease. RRP cannot be called an STD, however, anymore than cervical cancer can. Any speculation that RRP might be an STD, when viewed in this light, is inappropriate. ( Source: rrpwebsite.org)

NEW TREATMENT: Surgical removal is the current management for RRP, but it is a very traumatic procedure, and often leads to permanent voice dysfunction. The pill Celebrex is FDA approved to treat the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and for the management of acute pain in adults and is being studied to stop HPV too.
“What we discovered is that patients with respiratory papillomas express a protein in the papilloma called COX-2,” Dr. Bettie Steinberg, Chief Scientific Officer at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, explained. “COX-2 is an enzyme and when we inhibited COX-2 in papilloma cells in tissue culture they stopped growing. COX-2 is the target for the drug Celebrex which most people think of for arthritis and inflammation, but it is also expressed in many tumors.”

This treatment has also showed positive results in those suffering from throat warts caused by HPV.

“The first 3 patients that we studied all responded. Two of the patient’s disease went away and it basically has not come back. The third patient, his disease went away, but when he stopped taking the Celebrex it did come back. It is not a magic bullet for everybody, but for many of the patients it looks like it causes a permanent cure,” Dr. Steinberg said.
Side effects of Celebrex include elevated blood pressure, upset stomach, and the trigger of heart attacks in those who have a history of heart disease.(Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, www.webmd.com, Interview with Ivanhoe Broadcast News). MORE
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