"Human Papillomavirus: Proving and Using a Viral Cause for Cancer presents a steady and massive accumulation of evidence about the role of HPV and prevention of HPV-induced cancer, along with the role and personal commitment of many scientists of different backgrounds in establishing global relevance. This exercise involved years of personal commitment to proving or disproving an idea that aroused initial skepticism, and that still has difficult implications for some. It remains one of the big successes of medicine that exploited both established medical science dating back to the nineteenth century and new molecular genetic science during a time of transition in medicine."--

Section 1: Early questions and their slow answers 1. Introduction: Implications and responses to a possible specific infectious cause for a solid cancer, approaches to proving the role of HPV, and exploring its potential uses against conventional medical practice 2. Cervical and other cancers now associated with HPV prior to recognition of HPV in cervical cancer 3. Cervical screening and its basis in ideas of precancer in classical microscopic pathology 4. The "discovery" of HPV I6 in cervical cancer and studies of its transforming role, P53 and pRB 5. Growing numbers of carcinogenic papillomaviruses and understanding of their differences 6. The impact of HPV on conventional morphological pathology of cancer and precancer. Bethesda classification, molecular markers relating morphology to molecular mechanisms 7. The proof of causality in humans 8. Progression from infection to cancer 9. Sexuality and HPV: sexual transmission, male role 10. Genital warts 11. HPV and non-cervical cancer 12. Immune responses, and antibodies to HPV, making viral antigens 13. Developing and standardising HPV tests 14. HPV and non-HPV pathways to cancer