Abstract
Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) are at increased risk for infections. Vaccination is a powerful tool to prevent infections, even in immunocompromised patients. Most non-live vaccines are immunogenic and safe in patients with SLE, even if antibody titres are frequently lower than those of healthy controls. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are more prevalent in SLE patients when compared to the healthy population. Low-risk types of this virus cause anogenital warts, while high risk types are strongly related to pre-malignant cervical abnormalities and cervical cancer. HPV vaccines have been developed to prevent these conditions. Although little is known about HPV vaccination in SLE, few studies in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) have shown that HPV vaccines are safe, and capable to induce an immunogenic response in this group of patients. To date, available data suggest that HPV vaccines can be given safely to SLE patients. Given the increased incidence of cervical abnormalities due to HPV in SLE patients, this vaccination should be encouraged.
Highlights
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an immune disorder that predominantly affects women of reproductive age
Studies have demonstrated that most vaccines are efficacious in patients with SLE, even if specific immune responses may be reduced when compared to the responses of the healthy population [4, 5, 11,12,13]
Despite bivalent Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine (bHPV) and quadrivalent HPV vaccine (qHPV) vaccines having been approved only 10 years ago, a meta-analysis of 20 studies performed in developed countries has already showed significant decrease of HPV prevalence in young vaccinated men and women [60]
Summary
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an immune disorder that predominantly affects women of reproductive age. Despite bHPV and qHPV vaccines having been approved only 10 years ago, a meta-analysis of 20 studies performed in developed countries has already showed significant decrease of HPV prevalence in young vaccinated men and women [60]. Human Papillomavirus infections and vaccination in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus patients Studies from all over the world showed that HPV infections are more prevalent in patients with SLE [17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27]. Seven studies about the prevalence of premalignant cervical lesions in patients with SLE were included They showed a 9-fold increase risk on premalignant cervical lesions in this population when
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