Infectious Disease

10-year data show ‘robust’ long-term benefit of HPV vaccination

Evan Vega September 6, 2023

0 111 2 minutes read

September 05, 2023

2 min read

Source/Disclosures

Disclosures:
Barr and Luxembourg are employees of Merck Sharp and Dohme LLC. Please see the study for all author authors’ relevant financial disclosures.

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Key takeaways:

A phase 3 study found that HPV vaccination continued to be effective after a decade.
There were no cases of HPV-related cancers or genital warts among participants.

A study of 10-year follow-up data showed no cases of high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia and few cases of HPV infection among almost 1,300 boys and girls who received the 9-valent HPV vaccine, according to results published in Pediatrics.

A recently published study found that, for the first time in a decade, HPV vaccination did not increase among U.S. teenagers in 2022. Other studies have indicated that emphasizing the vaccine’s ability to reduce the risk for cancer could improve uptake.

The 9-valent HPV vaccine remains protective through at least 10 years, a study showed. Image: Adobe Stock

The new study assessed the vaccine’s performance through 10 years among 301 boys and 971 girls who received three doses over 6 months starting between the ages of 9 and 15 years as part of a phase 3 trial. Researchers swabbed the subjects monthly over the decade-long period.

According to the results, geometric mean antibody titers peaked at around month 7, decreased sharply between months 7 and 12, then gradually through month 126.

Among girls, there were no cases of vaccine-targeted HPV-type high-grade disease, such as cervical, vulvar or vaginal cancers; external genital warts; and neoplasia of the cervix and vagina.

One case of low-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia that was detected in a participant at month 84 “was likely caused by HPV39 and/or HPV59 given the detection of persistent infection with these types, and is not considered a breakthrough case since these two types are not covered” by the 9-valent vaccine, the researchers wrote.

Among boys, the researchers found no cases of vaccine-targeted HPV-type disease, such as penile, perineal or perianal cancer or external genital warts.

They detected just 31 cases of HPV infection among the 1,272 participants over the 10-year period.

“The vaccine elicited robust antibody responses that persisted through 10 years after vaccination,” Alain Luxembourg, MD, PhD, director of clinical research at Merck and a co-author of the study, said in a video abstract that accompanied the study online.

“More than 80% of toxicants were seropositive for each vaccine HPV type after 10 years. No cases of high-grade dysplasia or condyloma related to vaccine-targeted HPV types were observed during long-term follow up,” Luxembourg said. “These long-term data demonstrate that the nine-valent HPV vaccine generates durable antibody responses and effectiveness of at least 10 years.”

“HPV-related cancers and diseases are a significant public health issue,” Eliav Barr, MD, chief medical officer at Merck Research Laboratories, said in a press release. “These strong study results serve as a reminder that we need to do everything we can to expand and recover vaccination rates globally to help protect all eligible people from certain HPV-related cancers.”

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