Remission of HPV-Related Diseases by Antivirals for Herpesvirus: Clinical Cases and a Literature Review

• Published in: Viruses Vol. 16; no. 5; p. 756
• Main Authors: Balestrieri, Maria, Chiantore, Maria Vincenza, Garbuglia, Anna Rosa, Carnovale-Scalzo, Caterina, Falcucci, Susanna, Di Bonito, Paola
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 10-05-2024
• Subjects: Acyclovir; Acyclovir - pharmacology; Acyclovir - therapeutic use; acyclovir and valaciclovir; Adult; Airway management; Antiviral agents; Antiviral Agents - pharmacology; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Cervical cancer; Clinical trials; condyloma; Drug dosages; Epidemiology; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; Female; Genotype & phenotype; Genotypes; Herpes viruses; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Human papillomavirus; Humans; Immunocompromised hosts; Infections; Literature reviews; Male; Middle Aged; Oral administration; Papilloma; Papillomavirus infections; Papillomavirus Infections - drug therapy; Papillomavirus Infections - virology; Patients; Penis; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Prevention; Remission; Remission (Medicine); Sexually transmitted diseases; Skin; STD; Transdermal medication; Treatment Outcome; Vaccines; Vagina; Valacyclovir - therapeutic use; Warts; Womens health; Young Adult; acyclovir and valaciclovir; condyloma; warts; human papillomavirus
• ISSN: 1999-4915; 1999-4915
• DOI: 10.3390/v16050756

Epidemiological studies have shown that HPV-related diseases are the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections. In this context, this report will present various clinical cases demonstrating the effectiveness of Acyclovir (ACV) or its prodrug Valaciclovir (VCV), both acyclic guanosine analogs commonly used for the treatment of HHV-1 and HHV-2, for the treatment of HPV-related diseases. The report shows the remission of five cases of penile condyloma and a case of remission in a woman affected by cervical and vaginal condylomas and a vulvar giant condyloma acuminate of Buschke and Lowenstein. The literature review shows that ACV is effective in treating skin warts when administered orally, topically, and intralesionally, suggesting its therapeutic potential in other diseases associated with HPV. ACV was also used successfully as an adjuvant therapy for juvenile and adult forms of laryngeal papillomatosis, also known as recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, prolonging the patient's symptom-free periods. Although the prevention of HPV infections is certainly achieved with the HPV vaccine, ACV and VCV have shown to be effective even against genotypes not included in the current vaccine and can be helpful for those problematic clinical cases involving unvaccinated individuals, immunocompromised patients, people who live with HIV, or non-responders to the vaccine. We and others concluded that randomized clinical trials are necessary to determine the efficacy of ACV and VCV for HPV-related diseases.