Highlights of This Issue

Abstract

To gauge the effectiveness of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, Joura and colleagues estimated the prevalence and incidence of 14 HPV types in clinical swabs and then used predefined algorithms to attribute HPV types to different cervical lesions. Among 10,656 women enrolled in the placebo arms of phase 3 clinical trials of the 9-valent vaccine, seven high-risk HPV types that are targeted by the 9-valent investigational HPV vaccine were attributed to 43–55% of CIN1, 70–78% of CIN2, 85–91% of CIN3, and 95–100% of adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) lesions. If the 9-valent HPV vaccination programs are effectively implemented, the majority of CIN2 and CIN3 lesions worldwide could be prevented.HIV-infected (HIV+) men face cancer treatment disparities which impact outcomes. Murphy and colleagues used electronic chart reviews to conduct a retrospective cohort study of HIV+ cases with prostate cancer. Most HIV+ patients with prostate cancer (95.3%) received antiretroviral therapy and 87.1% were virally suppressed. The authors report that prostate cancer in HIV+ men in the US is appropriately treated but more research is needed on prostate cancer survival indices and etiologies in the HIV/AIDS population.Zhang and colleagues evaluated the relationship between methylation status of blood leukocyte DNA and risk of gastric cancer in a population-based study. Methylation levels of IGFII and N33 were determined by quantitative methylation-specific PCR. IGFII median methylation level was significantly higher in gastric cancer cases. Both IGFII and N33 methylation levels were elevated at least 5 years ahead of clinical gastric cancer diagnosis. These findings suggest that hypermethylated IGFII and N33 in blood leukocyte DNA are associated with risk of gastric cancer in a Chinese population.Despite substantial evidence on the inverse association between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and colorectal cancer, it is unclear whether this relationship is due to confounding by inflammation. Song and colleagues reevaluated the association between plasma 25(OH)D and colorectal cancer risk and accounted for inflammatory markers in a prospective case–control study nested within the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Plasma 25(OH)D was associated with reduced risk of colorectal cancer but additional adjustment for inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 2) did not change the results. These findings suggest that confounding by inflammation does not account for the inverse association between plasma 25(OH)D and colorectal cancer.