Intervention in clearance of persistent hrHPV infections
While most hrHPV infections are transient, 10–20% of infections persist latently, leading to disease progression and various forms of invasive cancer.20 Infection of the basal cells of the lower epithelium by hrHPV through a micro-abrasion or wound in the stratified epithelium causes the virus particles to attach to heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG) on the basement membrane, inducing a series of conformational changes that promote viral entry. HPV particles enter the basal keratinocyte cells by endocytosis, which is mediated by an uncharacterized secondary receptor on the membrane of host cells. After the basal cells of the cervical epithelium are infected with hrHPV virus particles, a small amount of established extrachromosomal viral genomes will persist in self-renewing basal cells of the lower epithelium. This pool of infected basal cells forms the base of the infected lesion and acts as a reservoir for persistent hrHPV infection.21After initial HPV DNA amplification, the viral genome must be ”established” as a stable, low-copy number extrachromosomal element in the host cell nucleus. These genomes must evade detection by innate immune defenses in order to avoid recognition and clearance by the immune system. Therefore, hrHPV can sustain long-term infection in squamous stratified epithelium by viral DNA, preserving a low copy number of extrachromosomal plasmids for maintenance replication in dividing basal cells, while progeny viral genomes are amplified abundantly in differentiated superficial cells.22Hence, persistent hrHPV infection can evade immunity, which is difficult to self-clean, and requires clinical intervention.
REBACIN®effectively eliminates persistent hrHPV infection
In two independent parallel clinical studies, three months of REBACIN® treatment led to 62.11% (59/95) of hrHPV-positive patients becoming hrHPV-negative compared to 15.38% (16/104) in the control group (Table 1).13 These two independent parallel clinical studies demonstrated that REBACIN® has a significant effect on clearing persistent hrHPV infections and highlighted the development of a novel non-invasive therapeutic intervention with significant efficacy in clearing persistent HPV infections.