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Bivalent vaccine reduces HPV prevalence in younger men
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The prevalence of HPV in younger men was significantly lower among those who received the bivalent HPV vaccine than in those who did not, according to recent study findings.
“Although the quadrivalent HPV vaccine is known to reduce HPV infection in men, this is the first report that HPV prevalence rates are reduced also among men given the bivalent HPV vaccine,” Tuomas Lehtinen, faculty of medicine and life sciences and faculty of social sciences at the University of Tampere, Finland, and colleagues wrote in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
The researchers assessed the prevalence of HPV in 395 vaccinated and 149 unvaccinated men aged 18 and 19 years participating in chlamydia screening at one of 12 municipalities in Finland. The analysis was conducted approximately 4 years after the bivalent HPV vaccine (Cervarix, GlaxoSmithKline), which protects against HPV types 16 and 18, was administered.
After testing urine samples for various HPV types, the researchers found that none of the vaccinated and 2.1% of unvaccinated participants tested positive for HPV types 16 and 18 (P = .02). There was also a significant reduction in HPV types 11, 31, 33 and 45 among vaccinated vs. unvaccinated participants (0.8% vs. 5.3%; P = .002).
Overall, the researchers estimated that 10.1% of unvaccinated and 4.1% of vaccinated participants tested positive for any HPV type (P = .012). However, because of the small population size, they were unable to confirm vaccine efficacy. According to the researchers, the bivalent vaccine has previously demonstrated “excellent efficacy results” in women aged 16 to 26 years.
“The results of this observational, post hoc study suggest protective efficacy against vaccine type HPV 16/18 and cross-protected and/or low risk type HPV 6/11/31/33/45 for the bivalent HPV vaccine in males,” the researchers concluded. “Vaccine efficacy of the bivalent vaccine in males has yet to be established. Our findings motivate randomized efficacy studies in males for the bivalent HPV 16/18 vaccine in a larger sample size in populations with higher HPV prevalence.” – by Stephanie Viguers
Disclosure: Two study authors report receiving grants from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals and Merck for HPV vaccination studies.
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