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Research

As the FCP Foundation states in her founding regulations, the foundation aims to eradicate and prevent cervical cancer and to support related scientific research. In the realization of this purpose the activities focus on high incidence areas. In this chapter you can learn more about scientific reserach on cervical cancer.

Publications: Please read more about the scientific articles which have been publiced in scientific magazines and journals.
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Ways to Escape: A healthy cervix cell changing into a cancer cell can be seen as an evolutionary process. Just like the origin of many animal species, this process is based on mutations and selection. These mutations - changes in the DNA of the cell - are partly caused by HPV. Selection takes place by attempts of the immune system to destroy the malignantly changing cells. If the body succeeds in clearing away every malignant cell in time, there will be no cancer. In those patients who do get cancer, the tumor
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Additives increase effectiveness: Another important insight from basic immunological research is used in developing a vaccine against cervical cancer.
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AIDS and cervical cancer: AIDS patients with cervical cancer receive special attention. The fact that cervical cancer is more common amongst women who are infected with HIV, supports the hypothesis that the immune system is capable of preventing the development of cervical cancer...
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Different Types of HPV: HPV is a lot more common in Surinam, Indonesia or Africa than in western countries. The percentage of HPV infection amongst Surinamese women with African backgrounds was 61%, whilst in countries like the the USA or the Netherlands where the disease is relatively rare, only 15% of the smears were infected.
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HPV Types: Unlike HIV, which has probably only affected humans in recent decades, HPV viruses have been present among humans for a very long time. there are over 100 different variations of this virus, the majority of which is harmless. Most HPV types cause warts on the skin, and although benign tumors can be annoying, they do not pose a threat to our health.
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Molecular Portrait: When research results of a rich western countries such as The Netherlands or the USA are compared to research results of a Third World country like Indonesia, the results are different. There are many differences in both the incidence of cervical cancer and the stage in which it is usually discovered for example.
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Molecular Vaccination: The approach that Leiden has chosen in developing a vaccine against cervical cancer, is based on a series of discoveries about the way the immune system works. Immune cells are capable of inspecting the contents of every cell in the body. Each cell has special molecules on its surface, HLA molecules, so the immune cells are presented with a catalogue of all the proteins that are present in the cell.
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The current situation: In recent years various peptide vaccines have been developed and tested for their effectiveness on laboratory animals. One type of vaccine has been tested on humans for safety, and no toxic side effects were found.
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The development of cancer: Cancer develops when the DNA in the cell nucleus mutates. Genes that regulate cell divisions are damaged. The cell withdraws more and more
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Towards a Preventive Medicine: Cervical cancer is one of the very few forms of cancer in human beings that is partly caused by a virus. This increases the chance of preventing or curing this disease with an effective vaccine. Let's take a look in the lab of the creators of the vaccine against cervical cancer.
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Vaccine as a Cure: Although the ultimate aim of this research program is to develop a preventive vaccine that can protect women worldwide from cervical cancer, vaccination can also be used therapeutically. Unfortunately this is not an option when the tumor is already large and has metastases throughout the body. The immune system cannot cope with such large number of cancer cells. Moreover, there are strong indications that tumors produce chemicals that impede the immune system.
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