HPV cancer refers to any cancer caused by human papillomavirus, a common sexually transmitted infection responsible for roughly 1.5 million new cancer cases and over 755,000 deaths worldwide in 2022. That makes HPV-related cancers account for about 7.8% of all cancer deaths globally. The term doesn’t describe a single disease but a group of cancers across different body sites, all triggered by the same family of viruses.
Which Cancers Does HPV Cause?
HPV is linked to six major cancer types, though its contribution varies significantly by site. It’s responsible for about 91% of cervical cancers, 91% of anal cancers, 75% of vaginal cancers, 70% of oropharyngeal (throat) cancers, 69% of vulvar cancers, and 63% of penile cancers. Cervical cancer has historically been the most well-known, but throat cancer caused by HPV is rising fast. In the UK, the rate of HPV-related throat cancer in men has actually surpassed the rate of cervical cancer, and incidence more than doubled between 2010 and 2020.
Not all HPV strains cause cancer. There are over 200 types of HPV, but only a handful are classified as “high-risk.” HPV 16 and HPV 18 are by far the most dangerous, together causing about 70% of all cervical cancers. Other high-risk strains include HPV 33, 45, and 31, though they contribute a much smaller share of cases.
How HPV Turns Cells Into Cancer
Your body has built-in brakes that stop damaged cells from multiplying out of control. Two of the most important are tumor suppressor proteins called p53 and Rb. High-risk HPV strains produce two proteins that systematically disable both of these safeguards.
The first viral protein tags p53 for destruction. It essentially tricks your cell’s recycling machinery into breaking down p53 as if it were waste. Without p53, your cells lose a critical checkpoint: the ability to pause, repair DNA damage, or self-destruct when something goes wrong. The second viral protein latches onto Rb and forces it to release a growth signal that would normally stay locked up. With Rb disabled, cells receive a constant green light to divide. Together, these two viral proteins strip away the cell’s main defenses against uncontrolled growth, setting the stage for cancer over many years.
Most HPV Infections Never Become Cancer
HPV is extraordinarily common, but cancer from HPV is not. The vast majority of infections are cleared naturally by the immune system. At 12 months after infection, about 66% have been eliminated. By 24 months, that number climbs to 90%. Your immune system recognizes and destroys the virus before it can do lasting damage in most cases.
The infections that do persist are the ones that matter. When a high-risk HPV strain stays active in the body for years, it can gradually cause precancerous changes in the affected tissue. The World Health Organization estimates that it typically takes 15 to 20 years for cervical cancer to develop after the initial HPV infection. This slow progression is actually good news: it creates a long window for screening to catch precancerous changes before they turn dangerous. The timeline for other HPV-related cancers is less well defined but is generally measured in years to decades, not months.
Who Is at Risk
Nearly everyone who is sexually active will contract HPV at some point. The virus spreads through skin-to-skin contact, not just intercourse, which makes it nearly impossible to avoid entirely. Most people never know they had it because the infection clears silently.
Your risk of a persistent infection turning into cancer increases with a weakened immune system (including from HIV), smoking, having multiple sexual partners, and co-infection with more than one high-risk HPV strain. HPV-related throat cancers are more common in men by a wide margin, while cervical cancer obviously affects only people with a cervix. Women in low-resource settings where screening is limited face the highest mortality rates globally: of the 755,303 HPV-associated cancer deaths in 2022, roughly 467,000 were in women.
Screening Catches Precancer Early
For cervical cancer, screening has been one of the most effective cancer prevention tools in medicine. Current guidelines offer three options for people aged 30 to 65: a primary HPV test every 5 years, a Pap smear (cervical cytology) alone every 3 years, or both tests together every 5 years. The HPV test looks directly for the virus’s DNA, while the Pap smear looks for abnormal cell changes. Primary HPV testing is increasingly preferred because it catches the root cause rather than waiting for cellular changes to appear.
Screening for HPV-related cancers at other sites is less straightforward. There is no routine screening test for HPV-related throat, anal, penile, vaginal, or vulvar cancers in the general population. Some higher-risk groups, such as people living with HIV, may be offered anal cancer screening. For throat cancer, there is currently no approved screening method, which is one reason the rising incidence is concerning.
Vaccination Prevents HPV Cancer
The HPV vaccine is the single most effective way to prevent HPV-related cancers. It protects against the high-risk strains most likely to cause cancer, including HPV 16 and 18. The CDC recommends routine vaccination at age 11 or 12, though it can start as early as age 9. Catch-up vaccination is recommended for anyone through age 26 who wasn’t adequately vaccinated earlier.
The dosing schedule depends on when you start. If you begin the series before your 15th birthday, you need only two doses, spaced 6 to 12 months apart. Starting at age 15 or older requires three doses, given at 0, 1 to 2 months, and 6 months. People with weakened immune systems, including those with HIV, need three doses regardless of age. If two doses are given less than 5 months apart, a third dose is also required.
The vaccine works best when given before any exposure to the virus, which is why it’s recommended in early adolescence. But even for people already exposed to some HPV strains, the vaccine can still protect against strains they haven’t encountered yet. It does not treat existing infections or precancerous changes.
What Treatment Looks Like
When screening detects precancerous changes, they can often be removed with minor outpatient procedures before cancer develops. This is why consistent screening matters so much for cervical cancer in particular.
If HPV-related cancer does develop, treatment depends on the cancer’s location and stage. Cervical, anal, and throat cancers each follow different treatment paths, but they commonly involve some combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. One notable difference: HPV-positive throat cancers tend to respond better to treatment and carry a significantly better prognosis than throat cancers not caused by HPV. Patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer have notably higher survival rates, and researchers are actively studying whether some of these patients can receive less intensive treatment to reduce side effects without sacrificing outcomes.
The long timeline from infection to cancer, combined with effective vaccination and cervical screening, means that most HPV-related cancers are preventable. The challenge is making sure vaccination and screening reach the populations that need them most.