Access: Lupus Research -- Sexually Transmited Diseases
Research Summaries from 2010
Which Women with Lupus Have Greater Risk for Human Papilloma Virus?
Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted disease, is linked to risk for cervical cancer. One study examined the question of whether immune-suppressing treatments have any impact on the risk of HPV infection in women with lupus. It suggested that increased risk for HPV infection in women with lupus is associated with younger age at first sexual intercourse, past treatment with cyclophosphamide, and current treatment with leflunomide.
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Research Summaries from 2007
As Teenage Girls with Lupus Mature #2
There is some research showing that adult women with lupus are at greater risk for abnormalities of the cervix. The researchers for this study wanted to see if this risk also applied to adolescent lupus patients. There was no difference in the number of abnormal PAP smears among the two groups, those with or without lupus; fifty percent of each group had normal results. However, within the group of patients who had lupus, those who had more lupus disease activity were twice as likely to have inflammatory changes in their cervix.
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Lupus and HPV
Previous studies have suggested that women with lupus may not be able to produce an effective immune response to HPV. Researchers wanted to determine whether lupus patients are at enhanced risk of HPV infections. In this study of 112 women, researchers found that the women with lupus had a very high rate of infection with a particular sub-type of HPV-16, and those lupus patients who had large amounts of this virus had a higher rate of abnormal cervical smears.
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