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Several hundred million people are infected with genital genotypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV) annually in the world. The infections transmitted mainly through sexual routes are usually asymptomatic, but can lead to the development of cervical, vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile cancers, some head and neck cancers and genital warts (condylomas). The fraction HPV-related cancers range from nearly 100% in the case of cervical cancer to several/over a dozen percent in the case of other cancers and diseases. There are no effective drugs against HPV, but prophylactic HPV vaccines are available free of charge in immunization programmes in many countries around the world. In Poland, HPV vaccinations have so far been executed out on the pocket or in free-of-charge, local-governmental prevention programs, but the vaccination coverage of the target population does not exceed 10%. From November 2021, one of the vaccines is available with a 50% reimbursement, work is underway to reimburse the next ones, and the National Oncology Strategy assumes the implementation of the HPV immunization programmes and vaccination of 60% of the teen population by 2028. Three prophylactic HPV vaccines are registered. All of them are safe and their effectiveness in the prevention of diseases caused by vaccine genotypes reaches almost 100%, provided that full post-vaccination immunity is obtained before the contact with the virus. Girls aged 11-13 are the priority target cohort for HPV vaccination in Poland. The implementation of routine, free-of-charge HPV immunization in the Preventive Immunization Program (PIP) for all adolescents should be pursued. Persons over the age of 13 may also benefit from HPV vaccination and should be vaccinated according to product specifications. In addition to free access under the PIP, the key element for the success of the implementation of HPV vaccinations in Poland will be the education of medical personnel and parents of adolescents to be vaccinated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Whereas HER2 amplification is a well-known phenomenon in breast tumours, its frequency and clinical importance in ovarian cancer have not been established. The aim of the study was to compare the frequency of HER2 amplification in hereditary (BRCA-positive) and sporadic (BRCA-negative) ovarian tumours and to estimate the association of this gene alteration on clinical outcome in ovarian cancer patients. We analysed HER2 amplification in 53 ovarian tumours: 20 from mutation carriers (18 in BRCA1 and 2 in BRCA2 gene) and 33 from non-carriers. Fluorescence in situ hybridization for HER2 was performed on 'touch' slides from frozen tumour samples or formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue. Our results indicate that high amplification (HER2: centromere ratio>5) is an infrequent phenomenon in ovarian tumours (6/53 cases). It occurs in both hereditary (4/20) and sporadic (2/33) tumours and no difference in the frequency of HER2 amplification exists between these groups. There is no significant difference in the clinical outcome of patients with HER2 amplified and non-amplified tumours (p = 0.3). Our results suggest a different biological role of HER2 amplification in ovarian and breast cancer.

Several hundred million people are infected with genital genotypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV) annually in the world. The infections transmitted mainly through sexual routes are usually asymptomatic, but can lead to the development of cervical, vulvar, vaginal, anal, and penile cancers, some head and neck cancers, and genital warts (condylomas). The fraction HPV-related cancers ranges from nearly 100% in the case of cervical cancer to several/over a dozen percent in the case of other cancers and diseases. There are no effective drugs against HPV, but prophylactic HPV vaccines are available free of charge in immunization programmes in many countries around the world. In Poland, HPV vaccinations have so far been executed out of pocket or in freeof- charge, local-governmental prevention programmes, but the vaccination coverage of the target population does not exceed 10%. In November 2021, one of the vaccines became available with a 50% reimbursement, work is underway to reimburse the next ones, and the National Oncology Strategy assumes the implementation of the HPV immunization programmes and vaccination of 60% of the teenage population by 2028. Three prophylactic HPV vaccines are registered. All of them are safe and their effectiveness in the prevention of diseases caused by vaccine genotypes is almost 100%, provided that full post-vaccination immunity is obtained before contact with the virus. Girls aged 11--13 years are the priority target cohort for HPV vaccination in Poland. The implementation of routine, free-of-charge HPV immunization in the Preventive Immunization Programme (PIP) for all adolescents should be pursued. Persons over the age of 13 years may also benefit from HPV vaccination and should be vaccinated according to product specifications. In addition to free access under the PIP, the key element for the success of the implementation of HPV vaccinations in Poland will be the education of medical personnel and parents of adolescents to be vaccinated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Several hundred million people are infected with genital genotypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV) annually in the world. The infections transmitted mainly through sexual routes are usually asymptomatic, but can lead to the development of cervical, vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile cancers, some head and neck cancers and genital warts (condylomas). The fraction of HPV-related cancers ranges from nearly 100% in the case of cervical cancer to several/over a dozen percent in the case of other cancers and diseases. There are no effective drugs against HPV, but prophylactic HPV vaccines are available free of charge in immunisation programmes in many countries around the world. In Poland, HPV vaccinations have so far been executed out of pocket or in free-of-charge, local-governmental prevention programs, but the vaccination coverage of the target population does not exceed 10%. Starting in November 2021, one of the vaccines has been available with a 50% reimbursement, and work is underway to reimburse the next ones. The National Oncology Strategy assumes the implementation of the HPV immunisation programmes and vaccination of 60% of the teen population by 2028. Three prophylactic HPV vaccines are registered. All of them are safe and their effectiveness in the prevention of diseases caused by vaccine genotypes is almost 100% provided that full post-vaccination immunity is obtained before contact with the virus. Girls aged 11–13 are the priority target cohort for HPV vaccination in Poland. The implementation of routine, free-of-charge HPV immunisation in the Preventive Immunisation Program (PIP) for all adolescents should be pursued. Persons over the age of 13 may also benefit from HPV vaccination and should be vaccinated according to product specifications. In addition to free access under the PIP, the key element for the success of the implementation of HPV vaccinations in Poland will be the education of medical personnel and parents of adolescents to be vaccinated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authors: Izabela Bro?ek [1]; Iwona Karda? [1]; Karolina Ochman [1]; Jaros?aw D?bniak [2]; Maciej Stukan [2]; Magdalena Ratajska [1]; Lucyna Morzuch [1]; Janusz Emerich [2]; Janusz Limon (corresponding author) [1] [...], Whereas HER2 amplification is a well-known phenomenon in breast tumours, its frequency and clinical importance in ovarian cancer have not been established. The aim of the study was to compare the frequency of HER2 amplification in hereditary (BRCA-positive) and sporadic (BRCA-negative) ovarian tumours and to estimate the association of this gene alteration on clinical outcome in ovarian cancer patients. We analysed HER2 amplification in 53 ovarian tumours: 20 from mutation carriers (18 in BRCA1 and 2 in BRCA2 gene) and 33 from non-carriers. Fluorescence in situ hybridization for HER2 was performed on 'touch' slides from frozen tumour samples or formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue. Our results indicate that high amplification (HER2: centromere ratio>5) is an infrequent phenomenon in ovarian tumours (6/53 cases). It occurs in both hereditary (4/20) and sporadic (2/33) tumours and no difference in the frequency of HER2 amplification exists between these groups. There is no significant difference in the clinical outcome of patients with HER2 amplified and non-amplified tumours (p = 0.3). Our results suggest a different biological role of HER2 amplification in ovarian and breast cancer.

Objectives: The study's main aim was to evaluate the relationship between the performance of predictive models for differential diagnoses of ovarian tumors and levels of diagnostic confidence in subjective assessment (SA) with ultrasound. The second aim was to identify the parameters that differentiate between malignant and benign tumors among tumors initially diagnosed as uncertain by SA. Methods: The study included 250 (55%) benign ovarian masses and 201 (45%) malignant tumors. According to ultrasound findings, the tumors were divided into 6 groups: certainly benign, probably benign, uncertain but benign, uncertain but malignant, probably malignant, and certainly malignant. The performance of the risk of malignancy index, International Ovarian Tumor Analysis assessment of different neoplasias in the adnexa model, and International Ovarian Tumor Analysis logistic regression model 2 was analyzed in subgroups as follows: SA‐certain tumors (including certainly benign and certainly malignant) versus SA‐probable tumors (probably benign and probably malignant) versus SA‐uncertain tumors (uncertain but benign and uncertain but malignant). Results: We found a progressive decrease in the performance of all models in association with the increased uncertainty in SA. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the risk of malignancy index, logistic regression model 2, and assessment of different neoplasias in the adnexa model decreased between the SA‐certain and SA‐uncertain groups by 20%, 28%, and 20%, respectively. The presence of solid parts and a high color score were the discriminatory features between uncertain but benign and uncertain but malignant tumors. Conclusions: Studies are needed that focus on the subgroup of ovarian tumors that are difficult to classify by SA. In cases of uncertain tumors by SA, the presence of solid components or a high color score should prompt a gynecologic oncology clinic referral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]