薬理と治療

Abstract

Background　HPV（Human Papillomavirus）is a common sexually transmitted disease, however, most HPV infections are transient. On the other hands, persistent infection of high-risk HPV（HR-HPV）can lead to cellular abnormalities on cervical cells. Untreated cellular abnormalities may gradually turn into cervical cancer. Therefore, early elimination of HPV is desirable. Objectives　12 healthy Japanese adult women with persistent infection of HR-HPV were enrolled in this study. Methods　In this open-label study, subjects were administered 3 g of AHCC® daily for 16 weeks. The primary endpoint of this study was persistent infection with HR-HPV, and the secondary endpoint include peripheral blood NK cell activity and fecal secretory IgA（sIgA）level. Results　4 out of 10 subjects in the analysis persistently infected with HR-HPV after 8 weeks of AHCC® administration, and 3 subjects persistently infected after 16 weeks of AHCC® administration. Peripheral blood NK cell activity was significantly increased after 8 weeks compared with before administration（n＝11, P＝0.013）. Fecal sIgA levels were significantly increased after 16 weeks compared with before administration（n＝12, P＝0.046）. Conclusions　The rate of persistent infection in these results was lower than that reported by Molano et al., for all HPV types. Therefore, the results suggested that the administration of AHCC® reduced the rate of persistent infection with HR-HPV. In addition, the increases of peripheral blood NK cell activity and fecal sIgA level suggested that the improvement of immune function by AHCC® may be the mechanism of HPV elimination.