The American Cancer Society has estimated that there are almost 13,000 women in America that would be diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer. This was the recorded number in 2016 alone. Plus, there is a recorded 4,000 who are dying from the human papillomavirus (HPV) disease which is the cause of cervical cancer.

Now, the University of South Carolina researchers led by Carolyn E. Banister, Kim E. Creek, Phillip J. Buckhaults, Changlong Liu and Lucia Pirisi, found that there is a new sub-type of the HPV that are not susceptible to standard therapies (chemotherapy and radiation therapy).

According to Banister, currently, cervical cancer patients are being treated in a uniform manner with the use of standard chemotherapy and radiation treatments. However, 33 percent of these patients are not responding to the standard procedures, as reported by EurekAlert!

This is because there is a sub-type of cervical cancer that has different genetic features. This means that these cervical cancer patients may benefit from a different form of treatment instead. The University of South Carolina researchers analyzed 255 cervical cancer samples and found that there are two HPB oncogenes, thought to be important for cervical cancer growth, which were at either higher levels or little to nothing, as published in Impact Journals.

Banister now advises doctors managing cervical cancer patients to test for HPV oncogene expressions. After finding out the type of oncogene expression, they should consider personalized treatment of the HPV.

The study hopes to provide better treatment to the thousands of women affected by cervical cancer. According to the American Cancer Socitety, Latin and African-American women are more likely to develop the disease than Caucasian women in America. Banister and her team at the University of South Carolina are also looking for the genomic reason as to why this is so.

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