My friends over at That's Fit recently posted this item about one of the leading causes of throat cancer -- Oral sex. The threat is so serious, in fact, that it beats the risk associated with smoking or drinking alcohol by nine times. Surprised? I am.

But the connection between throat cancer and oral sex is also linked to HPV (Human papillomavirus), a sexually transmitted disease that increases the chance of contracting cervical cancer in Women. What's even more scary is that it's estimated that 80% of Women contract HPV at some point during their life. And as Jonathon points out, the strong connection between HPV and cancer of the genitals should lead us to anticipate that the virus can cause cancer in other parts of our bodies too.

Still, the statistics -- especially that oral sex is nine-time more likely to give you throat cancer than smoking -- are pretty alarming. Don't you think?

Can sex cause breast cancer and will the cervical cancer vaccine offer protection against breast cancer? The human papilloma virus (HPV) known to increase cervical cancer risk might also be responsible for increasing breast cancer risk, according to a small study conducted by University of New South Wales researchers. HPV was discovered in the DNA of breast cancer tumors in almost half of the 50 women who participated in the study.

Researchers went on to indicate that women affected by HPV were approximately eight years younger at the time of breast cancer diagnosis than women who were not affected by HPV. They went on to speculate that HPV is not only spread through sexual activity but can be spread while bathing as the virus can be transferred from the genital area to the breasts.

Professor James Lawson of the University of New South Wales explained that "We know that the virus explodes out of the cell and is spread by touch, so it's fairly obvious that it could be spread by sexual activity to the breast, you could also argue that it would be spread by washing and bathing."

Because the study was a small one, Australia's National Breast Cancer Centre director Dr. Helen Zorbas is hesitant to accept the study as conclusive in showing a link between HPV and breast cancer. "There are a lot of hypotheses into what may cause breast cancer and it's important that we do research to try to investigate them. But a study of 50 cases is very small."

Women diagnosed with cervical or uterine cancer, or are at higher risk for these cancers, need to require their sexual partners to wear a condom during sex, as semen appears to speed up the progression of cervical and uterine cancer, according to the results of a study done by UK Medical Research Council researchers.

Researchers found that high levels of prostaglandin present in semen might promote and fuel the growth of certain cancers for women. The hormone prostaglandin is produced by the reproductive glands of women and the levels of prostaglandin primarily regulates how much the uterine lining thickens and sheds each month. Semen contains a prostaglandin concentration 1,000 times higher than women normally produce in their own bodies.

The introduction of semen might promote cervical cancer and uterine cancer, as cervical and uterine cancer cells have prostaglandin receptor molecules on their surfaces. While it is known the human papilloma virus (HPV) might lead to cervical cancer, the researchers feel there might be other factors that fuel the development and spread of these cancers for women. Many women are infected with HPV at some point in their life, but not all women will go on to develop cervical cancer from the infection.

In a study just released by Dartmouth Medical School researchers, not all cervical cancer vaccines work the same or offer the same benefits. Comparing Cervarix to Gardasil, both cervical cancer vaccines designed to protect against the human papillomavirus, HPV, found Cervarix to be longer-lasting and provides protection against multiple strains of virus linked to the development of cancer. Gardasil does not offer these same benefits. Gardasil does offer protection against HPV strains associated with genital warts, which Cervarix does not offer.

Cervarix offers high level protection against HPV types 16 and 18 for up to 4.5 years, and cross-protects against HPV-45 and 31, two other strains of the virus associated with cancer. According to the researchers, the long-term response appears to be due to the use of the adjuvant ASO4 with Cervarix rather than the adjuvant alum that is used in the Gardasil vaccine. This is significant because a vaccine that uses adjuvant alum needs to be administered around the time of exposure, so timing is important to vaccine protection. However, a vaccine that uses adjuvant ASO4 can be administered at any time to offer protection. Gardasil uses adjuvant alum, Cervarix uses adjuvant ASO4. When these cervical cancer vaccines are approved for use, I wonder if women are going to faced with the decision of what type of protection they want and in what form. Or will they find a way to combine the benefits of both into one vaccine? Important information for women to keep in mind when the vaccine becomes available, because there are critical differences between the two vaccines mentioned in this post. 

Dartmouth Medical School researchers have discovered that the same human papillomavirus, HPV, which has been linked to cervical cancer, is also linked to skin cancer. "Although sun exposure and sun sensitivity are the major risk factors for skin cancers, our data support a role of HPV, particularly beta HPV, in the development of squamous cell carcinoma," states Dr. Margaret Karagas, of Dartmouth Medical School’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center.

New technology based on fluorescent bead technology that can detect viral antibodies allowed researchers to identify the virus in skin cancer samples. To investigate all the possibilities contributing to the development of skin cancer, researchers conducted one-on-one interviews with the study participants about lifestyle habits, such as drinking and smoking, medical and family history, their usual level of sun exposure and their skin’s sensitivity to sun. When this information was compiled and analyzed, the researchers still found an association between HPV and squamous skin cancer.