Protein found to be the link missing between HPV infection and cervical cancer development.

Orlando, Fla. - Most women are infected with human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer - yet few develop the cancer. Now researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, a part of Georgetown University Medical Center, believe they have found the missing link explaining why: activation of the beta-catenin oncogene (see also Genetics and Cervical Cancer).

At the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, the researchers say that a new mouse model they developed demonstrates that switching the oncogene on in the cervix of HPV infected mice promoted development of aggressive cervical cancer.

These early …