Causes of Cervical Cancer

Executive Summary

Cervical cancer occurs due to DNA mutations within normal healthy cells in the cervix. These mutational changes make the cells grow with abnormal proliferation without causing the death of the cells. The primary cause of cervical cancer is the occurrence of sexually transmitted human papillomavirus—only certain types of the strain of HPV involving HPV-18 and HPV-16 reason cervical cancer. Also, several studies have revealed that HPV is not the definite cause of cervical cancer. Women with HPV usually don’t get Cervical Cancer. Your immune system eliminates most HPV infections, often within two years.

Cause of Cervical Cancer

During recent years, there has been a lot of development and progress in comprehending what happens to the cells in the cervix when a form of cancer develops. Several causes of Cervical Cancer have been identified as reasons to develop Cervical Cancer.

Cervical cancer starts when the normal healthy cells in the cervix develop changes (mutations) in their DNA. The mutations make the cells grow and multiply out of control, and they don’t die.

Most cervical cancer cases are due to the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus ​1​. This is also the same virus that causes genital warts. Only certain types of the strain of HPV cause cervical cancer. The two that commonly causes cervical cancer are HPV-18 and HPV-16 ​2​. As per a study, HPV is not the definite cause of Cervical Cancer. Women with HPV usually don’t get Cervical Cancer. Your immune system eliminates most HPV infections, often within two years.

Reference

  1. 1.
    Yuan Y, Cai X, Shen F, Ma F. HPV post-infection microenvironment and cervical cancer. Cancer Letters. Published online January 2021:243-254. doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2020.10.034
  2. 2.
    Cohen PA, Jhingran A, Oaknin A, Denny L. Cervical cancer. The Lancet. Published online January 2019:169-182. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(18)32470-x