- With Mayo Clinic internist
James M. Steckelberg, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
James M. Steckelberg, M.D.
James Steckelberg, M.D.
Dr. James Steckelberg is a consultant in the Division of Infectious Diseases and a professor of medicine at Mayo Medical School.
A native of Fremont, Neb., Dr. Steckelberg was a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine as a resident in internal medicine and a fellow in infectious diseases, and is board certified in both. He is the former director of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory at Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Steckelberg belongs to numerous professional organizations. He is a founding member of the Musculoskeletal Infection Society and a fellow of the American College of Physicians and of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He has served on many Mayo Clinic committees and is a member of the Department of Medicine Leadership Committee and of the executive committee of the Division of Infectious Diseases. He also served on the editorial boards of "Mayo Clinic Proceedings" and "Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy" and has been an editorial reviewer for more than a dozen publications.
Dr. Steckelberg's research interests include experimental models of infection, epidemiology of infection, and antimicrobial resistance and therapy of bacterial infections.
Risk factors (1)
- HPV infection: A cause of cancer in men?
Tests and diagnosis (1)
- Cervical dysplasia: Is it cancer?
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Question
HPV infection: A cause of cancer in men?
I'm aware of the connection between sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer. Does HPV infection increase cancer risk in men, too?
Answer
from James M. Steckelberg, M.D.
The short answer is yes, but the specific risks are different for men. Most of the time, HPV infection doesn't cause any signs or symptoms in either sex, although some types of HPV cause genital warts. Typically, the immune system eliminates the virus without treatment within about two years. Until the virus is gone, you can spread it to your sex partners.
But certain types of HPV, known as high-risk types, may cause persistent infection, which can gradually turn into cancer. With the exception of cervical cancer, HPV-related cancers are uncommon. These rare malignancies include cancers of the vulva, vagina, penis, anus and oropharynx — the back of the mouth and upper part of the throat. They usually develop in conjunction with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.
HIV-positive gay and bisexual men are at particular risk of anal, penile and throat cancers associated with persistent HPV infection. This risk has actually increased in recent years, despite treatment advances credited with reducing the incidence of other HIV-associated cancers, such as Kaposi's sarcoma and lymphoma. The same advances have also added years to the lives of many people with AIDS.
After such improvements, why are people with AIDS more likely to develop HPV-related cancers now? One possible reason is that longer survival with AIDS gives persistent HPV infection time to turn into cancer.
Men can avoid the types of HPV that cause most genital warts by receiving Gardasil, which was originally approved as a cervical cancer vaccine for girls and young women. After additional studies, the Food and Drug Administration later approved Gardasil for males ages 9 to 26, specifically for the prevention of genital warts. More studies are needed to determine whether Gardasil can prevent HPV-associated anal, throat and penile cancers.
Next questionCervical dysplasia: Is it cancer?
- Genital HPV infection. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm#common. Accessed March 18, 2010.
- Basic information about HPV-associated cancers. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/hpv/basic_info/. Accessed March 18, 2010.
- Angeletti PC. The viral etiology of AIDS-associated malignancies. Advanced Pharmacology. 2008;56:509.
- Franceschi S. Human papillomavirus vaccines and anal carcinoma. Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS. 2009;4:57.
- Kreuter A. Human papillomavirus-associated diseases in HIV-infected men who have sex with men. Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases. 2009;22:109.
- van der Burg SH. Human immunodeficiency virus and human papilloma virus - why HPV-induced lesions do not spontaneously resolve and why therapeutic vaccination can be successful. Journal of Translational Medicine. 2009;7:108. http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/7/1/108. Accessed March 18, 2010.
- HPV vaccine: Questions and answers. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/hpv/vac-faqs.htm. Accessed March 15, 2010.
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