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Featured Clinical Trials

Cancer Studies Highlighted in the NCI Cancer Bulletin
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    Posted: 11/02/2004    Updated: 06/21/2005
Related Pages
Search for Clinical Trials 1
NCI's PDQ® Cancer Clinical Trials Registry.

Cervical Cancer Home Page 2
NCI's gateway for information about cervical cancer.
Vaccine to Prevent Cervical Cancer

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Name of the Trial

Phase II Randomized Study of SGN-00101 Vaccine in Human Papillomavirus-16-Positive Patients with Atypical Squamous Cells of Undetermined Significance or Low-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions of the Cervix (UCIRVINE-02-55). See the protocol summary 3.

Principal Investigators

Dr. Bradley J. Monk and Dr. Dorothy J. Wiley
Dr. Bradley J. Monk and Dr. Dorothy J. Wiley
Principal Investigators

Dr. Bradley J. Monk, University of California, Irvine, and Dr. Dorothy J. Wiley, University of California, Los Angeles.

Why Is This Trial Important?

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is common among women throughout the world. It is responsible for nearly all cervical cancers and most cell changes associated with low- and high-grade Pap test abnormalities.

Some types of HPV are associated with cervical cancer more often than others; for example, HPV-Type 16 (HPV-16) is found in half of cervical cancers worldwide. However, the vast majority of women infected with HPV-16 will never develop cervical cancer and will clear their infections spontaneously because of immune responses to the virus. Nonetheless, developing therapeutic interventions for viral infections associated with low-grade cellular changes may allow us to block the effects of HPV long before a precancerous change or a malignancy develops.

In this study, researchers are testing a vaccine in women infected with HPV-16 who have LSIL or ASCUS Pap test results. The goal is to determine whether women who receive the study vaccine clear their infections and resolve their low-grade Pap test abnormalities more often than women who receive placebo (sterile water).

"Some women with HPV infections develop cancer because they don't seem to develop an appropriate immune response to the cancer-causing components of HPV," said Dr. Wiley. "We hope that this vaccine will help women develop that immune response."

Contact Information

This clinical trial is no longer accepting new patients. To locate other clinical trials for cervical cancer, search the NCI database of clinical trials 1 or contact the NCI Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237). The toll-free call is confidential.



Glossary Terms

human papillomavirus (HYOO-mun PA-pih-LOH-muh-VY-rus)
A type of virus that can cause abnormal tissue growth (for example, warts) and other changes to cells. Infection for a long time with certain types of human papillomavirus may cause cervical cancer. Human papillomavirus may also play a role in some other types of cancer. Also called HPV.
immune response (ih-MYOON reh-SPONTS)
The activity of the immune system against foreign substances (antigens).
LSIL
A condition in which the cells of the uterine cervix are slightly abnormal. LSIL is not cancer. Also called low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion.
Pap test
A procedure in which cells are scraped from the cervix for examination under a microscope. It is used to detect cancer and changes that may lead to cancer. A Pap test can also show conditions, such as infection or inflammation, that are not cancer. Also called Pap smear and Papanicolaou test.


Table of Links

1http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/search
2http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/cervical
3http://cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/UCIRVINE-02-55