Effect of Surgery Combined with Human Papillomavirus Vaccination for Patients with Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis

Abstract

Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a type of papillomatosis that frequently recurs in the airway after surgery. To suppress the aggressiveness of this disease, several adjuvant therapy options have been presented. However, no concrete approach for managing RRP has been developed. We conducted a series of studies to examine the effect of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination as adjuvant therapy for RRP and review the findings here. We first demonstrated the specific frequency of the HPV-6 or HPV-11 infection rate of laryngeal papilloma among various laryngeal diseases, including polyps, nodules, cysts, leukoplakias, and carcinomas. Another study showed significant increases in the HPV antibody titer in 12 RRP patients after HPV vaccination. We further showed that the HPV infection status changed from “positive” to “negative” by 12 months after surgery following HPV vaccination among nearly 70% of 12 RRP patients. Our latest study showed a significant reduction in both the disease severity and tumor existence rate after surgery following HPV vaccination for approximately 80% of 16 RRP patients. Our previous findings suggest that HPV vaccination may be a viable adjuvant therapy option for RRP.