How One Scientist ’ s Persistence Can Save Millions of Women ’ s Lives
By Carol H . first met Harald zur Hausen in
I the early 1980s when he gave a seminar at a unique and special meeting in the Lüneburger Heide . I had moved to Hamburg to join a research team studying “ tumor virology ”— a new , burgeoning field in cancer research , in which “ gene technology ” was being used to determine how viruses might induce cancer . “ Might ,” I say , because , at the time , we knew only that viruses could induce cancers in mice and birds , but there was no evidence for their involvement in human cancers .
Professor zur Hausen is a self-assured and poised figure , who demands attention and respect . Nevertheless , his thesis of a connection between viruses and human cancer was met with great skepticism and even derided by other physicians . After pursuing the idea for more than 20 years , zur Hausen presented the first evidence toward proving his thesis at the meeting in the Heide ; he had isolated sequences of human papillomavirus ( HPV ) from HeLa cells , a widely used cell line derived from a woman in Georgia who had died from an aggressive cervical cancer . HPV is a large group of viruses that are widely prevalent and sexually transmitted . To prove causality took more
Harald zur Hausen receiving his Nobel Prize at the Stockholm Concert Hall , December 2008 . ( Courtesy of The Nobel Foundation / Hans Mehlin ) determination . “ Ich galt als exzentrisch ( I was viewed as eccentric ),” he stated as he accepted the Nobel Prize for Medicine ( 2008 ), more than 30 years later .
Even when the connection between papillomaviruses and cervical cancer was validated by many others , pharmaceutical companies remained skeptical — and his unremitting efforts to get German companies interested in developing a vaccine against the virus failed . Luckily , others took up the battle , and two vaccines were approved in 2006 . But Harald zur Hausen was still disappointed . Firstly , the vaccines were not being pushed as preventive measures against the HPV virus but rather as cervical cancer vaccines . Delaying the vaccine until after an HPV infection has already set in likely means it ’ s already too late ! ( His research had shown that it takes 15 to 30 years for the cancer to develop after the initial high-risk infection .) This problem was resolved when the vaccine was finally recommended for girls before they become sexually active .
The second problem is a familiar one . Regulatory agencies did not consider the importance of vaccinating boys of the same age group . It takes two to tango ( and spread
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