No autoimmune safety signal after vaccination with quadrivalent HPV vaccine Gardasil?

[SaneVax: The following article excerpt is from a letter to the editor of the Journal of Internal Medicine written by Lucija Tomljenovic and Christopher A. Shaw. Both are research scientists at the University of British Columbia. The excerpt was provided with their kind permission.]

Letter by Lucija Tomljenovic¹, Christopher A Shaw^1,2,3

1Neural Dynamics Research Group, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences,
University of British Columbia, 828 W. 10th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1L8, Canada
1Neural Dynamics Research Group, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences,
2Department of Experimental Medicine and the 3Graduate Programme in Neuroscience,
University of British Columbia, 828 W. 10th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1L8, Canada

‘Accepted Article’, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2012.02551.x
© 2012 The Association for the Publication of the Journal of Internal Medicine

Excerpt:

We have previously pointed out to existing HPV vaccine-related safety concerns as well as uncertainties about the efficacy of HPV vaccination against actual cervical cancer incidence ^{[3, 4]}. While results from clinical trials show that Gardasil can reduce the incidence of a subset of abnormal CIN 2/3+ cytologies (i.e., those related to HPV-16/18) in women with no pre-existing HPV infections ^[5], the vaccine is unlikely to reduce the overall frequency of cervical cancers (at least not beyond what Pap screening has already accomplished) ^{[6, 7]}, yet this is the primary aim for which the vaccine was developed ^[8]. Furthermore, current data show that antibodies against HPV-18 after Gardasil fall rapidly, with 35% of women having no measurable antibody titers by 5 years post injection ^[6]. This outcome suggests that rather than preventing future cases of cervical cancer, Gardasil, at best, may only be effective in postponing them.

Access the entire letter via this link.