Researcher wins $3.3 million grant to evaluate HPV vaccine

Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A $3.3 million federal grant will help a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences researcher study the effectiveness of a new human papillomavirus infection vaccine, UAMS announced today.

The award was granted to Dr. Mayumi Nakagawa, associate professor of pathology at UAMS, who developed the genital HPV vaccine after about 20 years of research.

Her five-year study of women with high-grade precancerous lesions seeks to find the drug’s safe dosage and potential side effects. Similar drugs have proven safe, she said.

The vaccine is based on synthetically made peptides of the E6 protein of HPV.
“This protein has been shown to be important in clearing HPV infection,” Nakagawa said.

Estimates suggest up to 80 percent of sexually active adults acquire HPV. The virus potentially leads to cervical cancer in about 10 percent of cases.

The National Institutes of Health issued the five-year grant.

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