Drinking and smoking don't boost HPV-related c...(p To find out the team studied 485 he...),Health

To find out, the team studied 485 head and neck cancer patients who were diagnosed at nine Boston-area hospitals between December 1999 and December 2003. The team also studied 549 cancer-free comparison subjects who were closely matched with the study group based on age, sex and town of residence.

All the test subjects were asked about lifetime smoking and alcohol consumption and also gave a blood sample, which was screened for HPV16 antibodies, a sign that they were exposed to this strain of the virus. The team then conducted a statistical analysis to estimate the effects of the different risk factors.

The results: Smoking and drinking didnt add to the risk of head and neck cancer for subjects exposed to HPV16. The strongest risk factors, by tumor site, were smoking for cancer of the larynx, alcohol with mouth cancer, and HPV infection with throat cancer.

We have a profound bit of evidence that HPV16-associated head and neck cancer is a very different disease, Kelsey said. Under a microscope, it looks like the same cancer you get from smoking and drinking. But how you get this form of the disease and how you would prevent and treat it is quite different.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, which includes nearly all head and neck cancer, afflicts about 45,000 people each year in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society, and costs an estimated $3.2 billion to treat.

There is a huge prevention message here, which is that we could protect a lot of people from cancer if men and boys could get the HPV vaccine, Kelsey said. We should start testing this vaccine on men.

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