Meet The Microbiologist - The Scientists Behind The Microbiology

How did discoveries made with bovine papillomavirus help scientists develop the human papillomavirus vaccine? Doug Lowy discusses his journey that began with basic research and led to the production of the HPV vaccine. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways In the early 1950s, the U.S. was a high-incidence country for cervical cancer. Through application of screens using the Pap smear, doctors have been able to catch and excise suspicious tissue, leading to a significant drop in incidence. Cervical cancer remains high-incidence in low- and middle-income countries; in high-incidence countries, cervical cancer is the most common form of HPV-associated cancer. In the U.S., cervical cancer represents around 50% of the HPV-associated cancers, with others like penile, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers also represented. Henrietta Lacks, the woman from whom HeLa cells were derived, had a cervical adenocarcenoma caused by HPV-16. The viral DNA had integrated near the myc oncogene to generate high expression of this oncogene. The ce