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Background: Australia introduced a school-based gender-neutral human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program for girls and boys aged 12-13 years in 2013. We examined HPV type-specific antibody levels in unvaccinated young men who have sex with men (MSM) with natural infection and compared these with levels in those vaccinated against HPV., Methods: Serum specimens at baseline were collected from MSM aged 16-20 years in the HYPER1 (Human Papillomavirus in Young People Epidemiological Research) and HYPER2 studies, conducted in 2010-2013 and 2017-2019, respectively. Merck's 4-plex HPV competitive Luminex Immunoassay was used to quantify HPV6-, HPV11-, HPV16-, and HPV18-specific antibodies. We compared antibody levels for each HPV genotype between unvaccinated men (HYPER1) and vaccinated men (HYPER2) using the Mann-Whitney U test., Results: There were 200 unvaccinated men and 127 vaccinated men included in the analysis. Median antibody levels among vaccinated men were significantly higher than levels among unvaccinated men for HPV6 (223 milli-Merck units per milliliter [mMU/mL] vs 48 mMU/mL, P < .0001), HPV11 (163 mMU/mL vs 21 mMU/mL, P < .0001), HPV16 (888 mMU/mL vs 72 mMU/mL, P < .0001), and HPV18 (161 mMU/mL vs 20 mMU/mL, P < .0001). Antibody levels did not change over time for up to 66 months for all 4 genotypes among vaccinated men., Conclusions: Among young MSM vaccinated with the quadrivalent HPV vaccine, antibody levels for HPV6, HPV11, HPV16, and HPV18 were significantly higher than those in unvaccinated MSM following natural infection. Antibody levels following vaccination appeared to remain stable over time., Clinical Trials Registration: NCT01422356 for HYPER1 and NCT03000933 for HYPER2., Competing Interests: Potential conflict of interest . E. P. F. C. is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Emerging Leadership Investigator grant (GNT1172873); reports grant payments to their institution from the World Health Organization and Gilead Sciences; and reports personal payments for educational activities from Roche, Merck & Co., and Gilead Sciences SL. C. K. F. and S. M. G. are supported by an Australian NHMRC Leadership Investigator grant (GNT1172900 and GNT1197951, respectively). E. P. F. C. and A. M. C. have received educational grants from Seqirus Australia and bioCSL to assist with education, training, and academic purposes in the area of HPV outside the submitted work. E. P. F. C. has received an honorarium from Merck Sharp & Dohme and Roche outside the submitted work. C. K. F. has received research funding from CSL Biotherapies and owns shares in CSL Biotherapies. S. M. G. has received advisory board fees and lecture fees from Merck & Co. for work in private time; through her institution (Royal Women’s Hospital), has received funding for an investigator-initiated grant from Merck & Co. for a young women’s study on HPV; is a member of the Merck Global Advisory Board for HPV vaccines; and serves as president for the International Papillomavirus Society. H. Z. is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China Excellent Young Scientists Fund (82022064), Natural Science Foundation of China International/Regional Research Collaboration Project (72061137001), and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission Basic Research Program (JCYJ20190807155409373). All other authors report no potential conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Men who have sex with men are a risk group for anal human papillomavirus (HPV) and anal cancer. Australia introduced a universal school-based HPV vaccination program in 2013. Self-reported HPV vaccination status has been widely used in clinical and research settings, but its accuracy is understudied., Objective: We aimed to examine the accuracy of self-reported HPV vaccination status among gay and bisexual adolescent males., Methods: We included 192 gay and bisexual males aged 16-20 years from the Human Papillomavirus in Young People Epidemiological Research 2 (HYPER2) study in Melbourne, Australia. All participants had been eligible for the universal school-based HPV vaccination program implemented in 2013 and were asked to self-report their HPV vaccination status. Written informed consent was obtained to verify their HPV vaccination status using records at the National HPV Vaccination Program Register and the Australian Immunisation Register. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of self-reported HPV vaccination status., Results: The median age of the 192 males was 19 (IQR 18-20) years. There were 128 males (67%) who had HPV vaccination records documented on either registry. Self-reported HPV vaccination had a sensitivity of 47.7% (95% CI 38.8%-56.7%; 61/128), a specificity of 85.9% (95% CI 75.0%-93.4%; 55/64), a positive predictive value of 87.1% (95% CI 77.0%-93.9%; 61/70), and a negative predictive value of 45.1% (95% CI 36.1%-54.3%; 55/122)., Conclusions: Self-reported HPV vaccination status among Australian gay and bisexual adolescent males underestimates actual vaccination and may be inaccurate for clinical and research purposes., (©Eric PF Chow, Christopher K Fairley, Rebecca Wigan, Jane S Hocking, Suzanne M Garland, Alyssa M Cornall, Sepehr N Tabrizi, Marcus Y Chen. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (https://publichealth.jmir.org), 06.12.2021.)

Background: Anal infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes 16 and 18 and anal cancer are overrepresented in men who have sex with men (MSM). This study investigated HPV prevalence in young MSM before and after the implementation of a school-based quadrivalent HPV (genotypes 6, 11, 16, and 18) vaccination programme for boys in Australia in 2013., Methods: In this repeated cross-sectional study, MSM aged 16-20 years were recruited from two successive birth cohorts via sexual health clinics and the community in Melbourne, Australia. The first cohort was before the implementation of gender-neutral vaccination (HYPER1 study, done in 2010-12, NCT01422356), and the second was the post-vaccination cohort (HYPER2 study, done in 2017-18, NCT03000933). Men who self-identified as being same-sex attracted were enrolled, and those recruited via the HYPER2 study had to be resident in Australia since 2013 to ensure eligibility. Study procedures were done in the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. A clinician-collected anal swab and self-collected penile swab and oral rinse were tested for 28 HPV genotypes, and data on demographics and sexual health practices were collected via questionnaires. Only assessable samples were included in the analyses. We compared anatomical site-specific prevalence of HPV genotypes between cohorts by calculating the prevalence ratio, adjusting for age, circumcision, and sex with women. Herd protection was also assessed, by calculating the adjusted prevalence ratios by vaccination status., Findings: 400 MSM, 200 per cohort, were included in the study. In both cohorts, the median number of lifetime male partners was ten (IQR 5-25). The prevalence of any anal quadrivalent vaccine-preventable HPV genotype was higher in the pre-vaccination cohort (54 [28%] of 193) than in the post-vaccination cohort (14 [7%] of 193; adjusted prevalence ratio [PR] 0·24, 95% CI 0·14-0·42), largely driven by decreases in HPV6, followed by HPV11, 16, and 18. Nevertheless, there was also a significant reduction in anal HPV16 and 18 in the post-vaccination cohort from the pre-vaccination cohort (0·31, 0·14-0·68). The prevalence of any penile quadrivalent vaccine-preventable HPV genotype was also higher in the pre-vaccination cohort (21 [12%] of 177) than in the post-vaccination cohort (11 [6%] of 179; 0·48, 0·24-0·97), driven by decreases in HPV 6 and 11, but not by 16 and 18. The prevalence of any oral quadrivalent vaccine-preventable HPV genotype was higher in the pre-vaccination cohort (seven [4%] of 200) than in the post-vaccination cohort (one [1%] of 199; 0·10, 0·01-0·97); there were no cases of oral HPV6 or 11 detected in HYPER2. Comparing the pre-vaccinated cohort with the 149 confirmed vaccinated men from HYPER2 showed a reduction in any quadrivalent vaccine-preventable HPV genotype for anal (0·09, 0·03-0·25) and penile (0·18, 0·05-0·59) infection but not for oral infection (0·17, 0·03-1·08)., Interpretation: A reduction in anal, penile, and oral quadrivalent vaccine-targeted genotypes occurred in young MSM following the implementation of a school-based gender-neutral HPV vaccination programme. The fall in anal HPV16 and 18 may lead to a reduction in the incidence of anal cancer., Funding: Merck and the Australian Government Department of Health., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests EPFC is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Emerging Leadership Investigator Grant (GNT1172873). CKF and CSB are supported by an Australian NHMRC Leadership Investigator Grant (GNT1172900 and GNT1173361, respectively). EPFC and AMC have received educational grants from Seqirus Australia and bioCSL to assist with education, training, and academic purposes in the area of HPV, outside the submitted work. CKF has received research funding from CSL Biotherapies and owns shares in CSL Biotherapies. SMG has received advisory board fees and lecture fees from Merck for work in private time and through her institution (Royal Women's Hospital) funding for an investigator initiated grant from Merck for a young women's study on HPV, and is a member of the Merck Global Advisory Board for HPV vaccination. DAM reports educational grants from Seqirus to assist with education, training, and academic purposes in the area of HPV, and travel funding and honoraria to her institute from Merck, outside of the submitted work. She is also an investigator on a genital warts surveillance grant funded by Seqirus. She also reports grants from Commonwealth Department of Health during the conduct of the study. AMC reports grants from Australian Government of Health National HPV Monitoring Program during the conduct of the study. CSB reports grants from SpeeDx outside the submitted work. EPFC, MYC, CKF, SNT, SMG, and AMC received the investigator initiated grant to conduct the HYPER2 study from Merck. All other authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)