2024-01-29 18:00:00
Tobacco is responsible for cascading phenomena which lay the foundation for risks linked to papillomaviruses (HPV).
Of the 4,500 chemical components found in a cigarette, 60 are carcinogenic, including benzopyrene which increases the viral load, or the quantity of viruses. And nicotine, although it is not oncogenic, acts on the acquired and innate immune response.
Concerning more specifically women, the two main factors in the occurrence of cervical cancer are HPV infection and tobacco.
How does tobacco increase HPV risks?
A NHANES study, conducted between 2011 and 2016 on 3,833 women who smoke or are exposed to passive smoking, showed that tobacco increases the risk of HPV infection by 32%.
“The risk rises to 70% for active smokers,” adds Julia Maruani, medical gynecologist in Marseille, during a press conference of the French Society of Colposcopy and Cervico-Vaginal Pathology.
The virus less quickly eliminated
In question ? The ability of nicotine to impair immune functions. Cellular immunity, humoral immunity, local immunity and general immunity, “it’s the entire immune function that is affected,” notes the gynecologist.
In addition to the immune response, “the NHANES study, published in November 2023, showed that tobacco affects the replication of HPV, on the oncoproteins which allow the occurrence of precancerous lesions and on DNA damage”, completes the specialist.
Tobacco also affects clearance, the body’s ability to eliminate a substance. On average, the body’s immune defenses make it possible to eliminate HPV within two years following contamination, according to the Pasteur Institute.
For a person who smokes, it takes much longer, as clearance decreases. “Women who smoke are 50% less likely to eliminate the virus,” points out Julia Muriani.
Stop smoking to reduce the risks
And since the virus is not, or less quickly, eliminated, the body is therefore more exposed to it. “We know that the longer the virus persists, the greater the risk of developing precancerous lesions responsible for cervical cancer,” explains Julia Muriani.
When you smoke, you are more likely to catch HPV and less likely to eliminate it. “And it is proportional to the duration, frequency and quantity smoked,” summarizes the gynecologist.
But clearance increases once the person stops smoking. “When faced with a smoker who presents lesions, it is therefore important to be able to direct them towards a tobacco consultation,” insists the specialist, with supporting figures.
In fact, the majority of people who try to quit smoking resume following a week and only 3 to 5% of smokers who stop are non-smokers following a year. It is therefore important to be accompanied by a specialist to put all the chances of success on your side.
Another study that the specialist echoes shows that smoking is even more harmful when you start smoking before being exposed to HPV. “People who have started will have even more lesions.”
In this regard, an effective prevention policy once morest tobacco among the youngest, in middle and high school, also appears essential.
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