The gene-editing tool CRISPR has been heralded as a scientific miracle destined to eradicate diseases from sickle-cell anemia to cancer, or decried as "the genetic scissors that tailor the human gene pool," an ethically risky ...
Analytical Chemistry
Nov 11, 2019
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424
With recent studies proving that almost everyone has a little bit of Neanderthal DNA in them——up to 5 percent of the human genome—- it's become clear our ancestors not only had some serious hominid 'hanky panky' going ...
Archaeology
Oct 17, 2016
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435
Biologists at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons have leveraged a computational method to map protein-protein interactions between all known human-infecting viruses and the cells they infect. The ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 29, 2019
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452
(PhysOrg.com) -- The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory using a state-of-the-art protein crystallography ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 20, 2009
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0
Researchers at Boston College discovered that a cluster of carbon nanotubes coated with a thin layer of protein-recognizing polymer forms a biosensor capable of using electrochemical signals to detect minute amounts of proteins. ...
Bio & Medicine
Sep 20, 2010
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0
The same viruses that make us sick can take up residence in and on the human body without provoking a sneeze, cough or other troublesome symptom, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 16, 2014
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0
Biologists have described only a few thousand different viruses so far, but a new study reveals a vast world of unseen viral diversity that exists right under our noses. A paper to be published Tuesday, October 4 in the online ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 3, 2011
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0
(PhysOrg.com) -- An international study involving Conway Fellow Dr Neil Ferguson has described how the human papillomavirus (HPV) interferes with the body’s natural inclination to kill infected cells and exposes the ...
Biochemistry
Feb 7, 2011
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0
An international team of researchers is reporting that it has uncovered new information about human papillomavirus that one day may aid in the development of drugs to eliminate the cervical-cancer-causing infection.
Biochemistry
Jan 11, 2011
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0
A cluster of carbon nanotubes coated with a thin layer of protein-recognizing polymer form a biosensor capable of using electrochemical signals to detect minute amounts of proteins, which could provide a crucial new diagnostic ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 27, 2010
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0
Alphapapillomavirus Betapapillomavirus Gammapapillomavirus Mupapillomavirus Nupapillomavirus
A human papillomavirus (HPV) is a papillomavirus that infects the epidermis and mucous membranes of humans. HPV can lead to cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, and anus in women. In men, it can lead to cancers of the anus and penis.
Approximately 130 HPV types have been identified. Some HPV types can cause warts (verrucae), but those types don't cause cancer. Other types can cause cancer, but those types don't cause warts. Other types have no symptoms and are harmless. Most people who become infected with HPV do not know they have it.
About 30-40 HPV types are typically transmitted through sexual contact and infect the anogenital region. Some sexually transmitted HPV types may cause genital warts. Persistent infection with "high-risk" HPV types—different from the ones that cause warts—may progress to precancerous lesions and invasive cancer. HPV infection is a cause of nearly all cases of cervical cancer. However most infections with these types do not cause disease.
Most HPV infections in young females are temporary and have little long-term significance. 70% of infections are gone in 1 year and 90% in 2 years.
A cervical Papanicolaou (Pap) test is used to detect abnormal cells which may develop into cancer. A cervical examination also detects warts and other abnormal growths which become visible as white patches of skin after they are washed with acetic acid. Abnormal and cancerous areas can be removed with a simple procedure, typically with a cauterizing loop.
Pap smears have reduced the incidence and fatalities of cervical cancer in the developed world, but even so there were 11,000 cases and 3,900 deaths in the U.S. in 2008. Cervical cancer has substantial mortality in resource-poor areas; worldwide, there are 490,000 cases and 270,000 deaths.
HPV vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, which prevent infection with the HPV types (16 and 18) that cause 70% of cervical cancer, may lead to further decreases.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
