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Scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) celebrated the 15th anniversary of the IARC India Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine project during the annual principal investigator meeting in Mahabalipuram, India, on 2–3 October 2024, together with 35 representative collaborators from 13 institutes in India and 2 representatives from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The IARC India HPV Vaccine project involves 129 staff across all sites and continues to follow up 16 067 participants, including 4306 participants from a single-dose HPV vaccination group and 4828 unvaccinated participants, 15 years after the initiation of the study.
At the meeting, the collaborators shared the latest data on the efficacy of a single dose of HPV vaccine against persistent HPV infection and against cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 or greater (CIN1+) and discussed future analyses and the publication plan. Investigators from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology laboratory presented updates on the ongoing laboratory assay analysis and the quality assurance plan. In addition, the implementation of the 15-year blood and urine collection was introduced.
Dr Partha Basu, Head of the Early Detection, Prevention, and Infections Branch at IARC, and Dr Rengaswamy Sankaranarayanan, in the presence of representatives from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, highlighted this study as the only one of its kind to date with a sufficient sample size of screening-eligible women to investigate cervical precancer as an end-point for vaccine efficacy. Further follow-up of the vaccinated and unvaccinated cohorts in the trial will demonstrate the durability of protection against CIN2 and other end-points.
The collaborating centres in India are the following: All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; Cancer Foundation of India, Kolkata; Cancer Institute (WIA) Adyar, Chennai; Christian Fellowship Community Health Centre, Ambilikkai; Civil Hospital, Aizawl, Mizoram; Gujarat Cancer & Research Institute (GCRI), Ahmedabad; Jehangir Clinical Development Centre, Jehangir Hospital Premises, Pune; Karkinos Healthcare, Kerala Operations, Ernakulam; Public Health Foundation of India, PRASHO, Hyderabad; Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences, Sikkim Manipal University, Sikkim; Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; Tata Memorial Centre Rural Cancer Project, Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Hospital, Barshi; and Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai.
