October 2, 2014

expert reaction to alcohol consumption and HPV infections in men

A study published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections has reported a link between high alcohol intake and an increased risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection infection in men in the US.

Prof Margaret Stanley, Professor of Epithelial Biology, University of Cambridge, said:

“This is a strong study in terms of design and the track record of the authors, but like many cross-sectional studies suffers from the fact that a one-time detection of HPV DNA, as measured in this study, may not be a true indication of a viral infection where the virus has entered cells.  Having said that, they do show a relationship between high alcohol intake and HPV DNA presence on the anogenital skin of the men in the study.  This is not the first study to show a relationship between alcohol intake and HPV prevalence, there are several studies showing this in women but this is the first to show this in men.”

“There is a large body of literature to show that immune function is depressed in chronic alcoholics with increased susceptibility to bacterial and viral infections.  Much of this is related to impaired liver function but there is evidence for more generalised immune suppression.  In mice, chronic alcohol consumption results in impaired killer T cell (immune cells that attack virus-infected cells) responses to influenza A infection and reduced virus removal.  So the speculation that increased HPV DNA prevalence in heavy drinkers is related to immune function is reasonable however the mechanism of this is not known but may be related to impaired metabolism (important for immune function), another feature of chronic alcoholics.”

“The increased risk is very small – 2x – and the authors do comment on the weaknesses of their study particularly self-reporting.  There is a saying that people always lie about two things, how much they drink and how often they have sex, and this study is heavily reliant on self-reporting of both these behaviours.  The message that comes from this study is that heavy drinkers are heavy smokers and have a lot of sex and increased HPV infections, classic risk takers.”

‘Alcohol consumption and prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among US men in HPV in Men (HIM) study’ by Schabath et al. published in Sexually Transmitted Infections on Thursday 2^nd October 2014. 

Declared interests

Prof Margaret Stanley: I consult for GSK, MSD Merck and SPMSD on vaccines but I have no financial interest in any company involved in vaccines or HPV diagnostics