Earlier this month, Dr. Harald zur Hausen of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery that the human papilloma virus can cause cervical cancer.
In 1972, when he proposed the notion that a virus could cause cancer, it was dismissed as quackery, but by 1983, Dr. zur Hausen had demonstrated that HPV 16 and HPV 18 were responsible for about 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases. This led to the development of vaccines to protect against infection with some strains of HPV. But 250,000 women a year worldwide still die of cervical cancer.
Tonight in Toronto, Dr. zur Hausen will, as the laureate of the 2008 Gairdner Prize, a Canadian-sponsored international award for medical research often called the baby Nobel, deliver a lecture entitled "HPV: Vaccinating Against Cancer."
The 72-year-old virologist sat down with public health reporter André Picard to discuss the prizes and the science.
You have won both the Gairdner and the Nobel Prize, the two highest honours in the world of medicine. How does it feel?
Both of them are a thrill. It's been a very exciting year. No one can expect this type of honour.
Can you explain simply, to the general public, what important scientific discovery led to this recognition?
We discovered the viruses that cause cervical cancer and genital warts. We were also able to unravel the oncological, or cancer-causing, potential of these viruses and the mechanism for this.
Your theory was greeted with a lot of skepticism. Do you feel vindicated now?
I'm not sure vindicated is the right word because English is not my first language. But I feel that we did indeed follow the right path despite what others were saying. That's true.
You are quite happy that a vaccine was developed from your findings, but what do you make of the controversy surrounding the HPV vaccine?
Yes, I'm extremely pleased. ... This vaccine is controversial, in part, because the companies have been very aggressive with their propaganda. There have also been reports of major side effects. But more than 14 million young women have been vaccinated and the side effects are no worse than any other vaccine.
In Canada, this vaccine is mostly offered free of charge, but uptake has been poor - about 50 per cent. Does this concern you?
There needs to be more effective public health information. If there was better understanding of the benefits, acceptance would be better. Communication is a major problem in this field. And let me be clear: I have no final relationship with these companies. I make no money from the vaccine. I am speaking freely, as a scientist.
This vaccine is very expensive - about $400. But cervical cancer is a big killer in the developing world, where the vaccine is unaffordable. What do you make of this gap?
It is very much troubling that this vaccine is unaffordable to those who need it most. There is an urgent need for a drastic reduction in price and there is also a need for competition. To me, this is one of the most urgent public health issues today. There is a real willingness to be vaccinated in places like Africa, but there is no way they can afford the vaccine, and this is wrong.
At the heart of your work is the idea that viruses cause cancer. Is there more to this link that science has not yet unravelled?
There are already many examples aside from HPV, and we need to continue to investigate. My feeling is that the role of infectious agents in causing cancer has been neglected in the past. Thirty or 20 years ago it was difficult to find scientists willing to discuss this, but that is changing fortunately. But my feeling is there is still not enough interest in infectious agents.
Are viruses, and cancer-causing viruses, here to stay, or can we control them?
Many of these cancer-causing agents have been around since the early days of evolution. That is true of the high-risk human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer. These connections have not been easy to unravel because there is such a long latency period between infection and the development of cancer. ... I hope technology will be able to control these viruses, but it's hard to predict when and how.
Do you still have active research projects?
We are working now on childhood leukemias and identifying infectious agents responsible for these conditions.
The Gairdner and the Nobel Prizes have made you famous and given you a platform. What message do you want to deliver?
Above all, I want to stimulate interest in infectious agents and the role they play in cancer. I would also like to convey that we have to invest in long-term research - not three months, but many years. I started with HPV in 1972 - 36 years ago - and I'm still learning.