By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK SEP 05, 2005 (Reuters Health) – First-degree relatives of women with cervical cancer and precancerous cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) have a significantly elevated risk of developing same conditions, according to data from two large studies.
The finding supports “one line of evidence suggesting that host factors are important” in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer, Dr. Mark Schiffman from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland told Reuters Health.
“Persistent infection with one of approximately 15 genotypes of carcinogenic human papillomaviruses (HPV) is the fundamental cause of cervical cancer,” he noted. However, other risk “co-factors” act to increase risk of cervical cancer among HPV-infected women. These co-factors may be environmental, like smoking, or host-related such as genetics or family history. (more…)
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