The Clinical Science Fundamentals bring together three focused sessions addressing the evolving landscape of HPV-related disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment across anogenital and extra-genital sites.
The first session explores emerging trends in HPV-related (pre)cancer management, covering the differential impact of immune status on carcinogenesis and clinical outcomes, the oncogenic heterogeneity of CIN3 and its implications for treatment decisions, the current evidence for therapeutic HPV vaccination versus standard of care, and a contemporary clinical overview of HPV-driven oropharyngeal cancer including de-escalation strategies and the role of circulating tumour HPV DNA.
The second session presents four structured debates on some of the most contested questions in HPV disease management: whether post-conization vaccination warrants formal guideline endorsement; whether and when CIN1 should be treated based on risk stratification; whether single-dose prophylactic vaccination can be extended to individuals older than 26; and whether thermal ablation can be considered non-inferior to excisional treatment for cervical precancerous lesions in appropriately selected patients.
The last session turns the spotlight on anal HPV disease, examining the role of self-collection in anal cancer screening programs, the immunological characteristics of the anal canal and their therapeutic implications, and emerging triage tools including methylation markers and artificial intelligence to improve risk stratification and clinical decision-making.