Persistence and clearance of oral human papillomavirus among a multi-national cohort of men
In response to the growing burden of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer, this study investigated clearance of oral HPV, the obligate precursor, in a longitudinal cohort of men from the US, Brazil, and Mexico. Oral gargles collected every 6 months from the HPV Infection in Men Study were HPV genotyped using SPF<sub>10</sub> PCR-DEIA-LiPA<sub>25</sub>. Oral HPV infection clearance and associated factors were assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards models, respectively. Median follow-up was 44.8 months with 403 and 186 men with an incident and prevalent oral HPV infection, respectively; and lower probability of clearance observed in prevalent infections. Infections were less likely to clear in the presence of increased sexual behaviors; and among prevalent infections, older men were less likely to clear their infection. Here, we report differences in prevalently and incidently detected infections with sexual behavior as a key factor and older age as a potential factor associated with clearance.
Authors
- Brittney L. Dickey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4268-6149)
- Bradley Sirak
- Racheal S. Dube Mandishora (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1154-6829)
- Eduardo Lazcano‐Ponce (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1259-6369)
- Michael J. Schell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4594-6601)
- Kimberly Isaacs‐Soriano
- Wenyi Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7875-7404)
- Luisa L. Villa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4074-2335)
- Anna R. Giuliano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5440-8859)
- Richard R. Reich
Institutions
- Moffitt Cancer Center (US)
- Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo (BR)
- Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (MX)
- Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- University of Nebraska Medical Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-10-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62963-9
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Head and Neck Cancer Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.85
Funders
- Moffitt Cancer Center
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
- Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
- Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social
- National Institutes of Health
- National Cancer Institute