UF Health Cancer Institute is taking women’s screening awareness on the road during National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month.
The institute’s Mobile Cancer Screening Connector is a bus turned into a lab, outfitted with a wide range of services designed to detect breast, colon, prostate and cervical cancers.
One of those screening services includes a self-collection test for the human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus responsible for nine of every ten cases of cervical cancer. According to the CDC, HPV self-testing kits could be instrumental in treating cervical cancer before it reaches advanced stages.
There are currently no FDA-approved HPV tests for men, who can also carry the disease, leaving the bulk of detection to women.
In 2022, 57% of cervical cancer cases in Alachua County were diagnosed at advanced stages, which is higher than Florida’s rate of 52%, according to the Florida Department of Health. Across the United States, 4,000 women die from cervical cancer each year.
“Those are 4,000 women with stories of mothers, sisters [and] grandmothers who are dying from [this] cancer,” UF chronic disease researcher Dr. Rahma Mkuu said. “We could completely prevent them from dying from [this] cancer.”
Among Dr. Mkuu’s most recently published research is a journal detailing the findings of multiple studies analyzing strategies for increasing the rate of cervical cancer screenings in sub-Saharan Africa.
The 42 final studies chosen in the paper covered 17 sub-Saharan African countries. It showed HPV self-collection as a part of most strategies that resulted in an increase in cervical cancer screenings.
Dr. Mkuu is now researching whether HPV self-collection kits can incentivize more people in Alachua County to test themselves and consequently lower the number of cervical cancer cases in the county.
“You can't just go to CVS and order it,” Dr. Mkuu said, “but your provider can order their tests for you to be able to self sample and for them to screen your sample for the HPV virus.”
She also said that an additional reason why women do not go to cervical cancer screenings is because they sometimes lack the time or help to do so.
“Volunteer to babysit for a woman to go get their cervical cancer and other preventative screenings,” Dr. Mkuu said.
The UF Health Cancer Institute is also researching ways to improve cervical cancer treatment.
Dr. David Iglesias, chief of the division of gynecologic oncology, is co-leading a study to determine which of two existing kinds of blood tests is most effective in telling doctors what treatments work best for different cervical cancer patients.
“We can either tailor therapy more appropriately or more personalized for individual patients,” Dr. Iglesias said, “and potentially, you know, offer different opportunities for de-escalation or escalation of treatment.”
While the project works to reach a conclusion, Dr. Iglesias said he is motivated by the relationships he builds with his patients.
“I think it's nice having a focal point or a person who can kind of help them through that process,” he said, “and, a lot of times in our field, it’s the gyno oncologist who is doing that.”
Echoing Dr. Iglesias’s point, Dr. Mkuu said entire communities can be a part of the change.
“It’ll take a community effort to really address how we treat cervical cancer,” she said.
Those who are interested in going to a screening for breast, colon, prostate or cervical cancers and who would like more information about locating the Mobile Cancer Screening Connector can call (352) 740-4667.