Tests buoy cervical cancer vaccine

WASHINGTON - Efforts to develop the world's first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer took a key step forward Monday with test results suggesting that it can provide long-lasting protection.

Four years after getting the vaccine, 94 percent of women were protected from infection with the virus that causes most cervical cancers and none had developed worrisome precancerous conditions, a study showed.

"We're thrilled about these results. The immune responses seem to be really long-lasting," said Dr. Eliav Barr, who leads development of the vaccine for Merck & Co. The company plans to seek Food and Drug Administration approval next year for an expanded version of the vaccine that also could be used to prevent genital warts in both women and men.

The new study was funded by Merck and led by University of Washington researchers who presented results Monday at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

"They showed clear effectiveness," said Dr. Scott Hammer, a Columbia University infectious disease expert who has no ties to Merck or the study.

If the vaccine makes it to market, it would be the second developed to prevent cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine has dramatically reduced the number of infections that progress to liver cancer.

Cervical cancer strikes nearly half a million women worldwide each year and kills about half. In the United States, about 15,000 women get it and about 5,000 die.

Virtually all cases are caused by infection with human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is spread through sex. One strain, HPV-16, accounts for about half of all cervical cancers.

Merck also is in the final stages of testing an expanded vaccine. Besides HPV-16, it contains strain 18, which causes another 10 percent to 20 percent of cervical cancers, as well as strains that cause genital warts in men and women, and penile and anal cancers in men.

WASHINGTON - Food containing olive oil can carry labels saying it may reduce the risk of heart disease, the government says, citing limited evidence from a dozen scientific studies about the benefits of monounsaturated fats.

As long as people don't increase the number of calories they consume, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed a reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease when people replace foods high in saturated fat with the monounsaturated fat in olive oil. That means a change as simple as sauteing food in olive oil instead of butter may be healthier for your heart.

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