A team of women scientists in Mexico has revealed what may be a giant leap towards a cure for the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
There is currently no cure for the sexually transmitted infection that can lead to cervical cancer and is also the second cause of death among Mexican women, according to Mexican newspaper El Universal.
Eva Ramón Gallegos, a researcher from Mexico National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), was able to cure 29 patients of the disease using photodynamic therapy.
After studying the technique for 20 years, Gallegos studied its effects on 420 patients from Oaxaca and Veracruz, and an additional 29 patients from Mexico City.
In the first part of the study, Gallegos' team treated the patients from Oaxaca and Veracruz. The virus was 85 percent eliminated in the patients that had HPV without premalignant lesions and the patients who had lesions with HPV. The patients who had premalignant lesions without HPV, the treatment were successful in 42 percent of the patients, according to the study.
However, it was the second phase of the treatment that really brought exciting results to Gallegos and her team. The infection was 100 percent eliminated from the 29 patients in Mexico City that had HPV without lesions.
In addition to these findings, Gallegos also explained that photodynamic therapy was also able to eliminate the main cause behind cervical cancer, which are the premalignant lesions in its first stages, according to El Universal.
Gallegos and her team of mostly women scientists published their work the day before World Cancer Day.
The following specialists, under Gallegos, contributed to its findings: Marco Antonio Amoroso Hernández y Ángel Laguna Cancino (Oaxaca) y de Dora Estela Jovel Galdamez, Bárbara Carrión Solano, Guadalupe Balderas Martínez; Eduarda Parra Rossana, Inés Castellanos Oliveros, Rosa Linda Bello Leiva, Ma. Eugenia Melo Petrone, Gumaro Narciso Morales y Petrona Jiménez Martínez