What causes cervical cancer besides certin types of HPV?

my friend went to her obgyn and found out that she has cervical cancer, I was just wanting to get more infor about what causes cervical cancer.

mostly a virus, an australian medical team has just dicovered a vaccine for it so you can reduce your chance of cervical cancer by 90%

Cervical cancer is a malignancy of the cervix. Worldwide, it is the second most common cancer of women. It may present with vaginal bleeding but symptoms may be absent until the cancer is in advanced stages, which has made cervical cancer the focus of intense screening efforts utilizing the Pap smear. Most scientific studies have found that human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is responsible for >90% of the cases of cervical cancer. There are 7 most common types of HPV - 16, 18, 31, 33, 42, 52 and 58.[1] Types 16 and 18 being the most common cause of the cancer. Treatment is with surgery (including local excision) in early stages and chemotherapy and radiotherapy in advanced stages of the disease. An effective vaccine for the two most common strains of HPV has recently been licenced

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine research focuses on the prevention and treatment of diseases, such as cervical cancer and genital warts, caused by sexually transmitted human papillomaviruses.

In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first preventive HPV vaccine, marketed by Merck & Co. under the tradename Gardasil.

GlaxoSmithKline is expected to seek approval in USA for a similar preventive HPV vaccine, known as Cervarix, early in 2007. In EU, GlaxoSmithkline has filed the application for approval in March 2006.

Of the more than 120 known HPV types, about 30 are adapted to be transmitted through sexual contact. Infection with sexually transmitted HPVs is very common in adult populations worldwide. Although a few HPVs, such as types 6 and 11, can cause genital warts, most genital HPV infections come and go without ever causing any symptoms. However, lingering infections with a subset of about a dozen "high-risk" HPV types, can lead to the development of cervical cancer or other genital/anal cancers.[1]

The current generation of preventive HPV vaccines are based on hollow virus-like particles (VLPs) assembled from recombinant HPV coat proteins. The vaccines target the two most common high-risk HPVs, types 16 and 18. Together, these two HPV types cause about 70 percent of all cervical cancer. Gardasil also targets HPV types 6 and 11, which together cause about 90 percent of all cases of genital warts.[1]

Gardasil and Cervarix are designed to elicit virus-neutralizing antibody responses that prevent initial infection with the HPV types represented in the vaccine. The vaccines have been shown to offer 100 percent protection against the development of cervical pre-cancers and genital warts caused by the HPV types in the vaccine, with few or no side effects. The protective effects of the vaccine are expected to last a minimum of 4.5 years after the initial vaccination.[2]

While the study period was not long enough for cervical cancer to develop, the prevention of these cervical precancerous lesions (or dysplasias) is believed highly likely to result in the prevention of those cancers.[3]

Although a 2006 study suggests that the vaccines may offer limited protection against a few HPV types that are closely related to HPVs 16 and 18, it is clear that other high-risk HPV types can circumvent the vaccines.[2] Ongoing laboratory research is focused on the development of HPV vaccines that will offer protection against a broader range of HPV types. There is also substantial research interest in the development of therapeutic vaccines, which seek to elicit immune responses against established HPV infections and HPV-induced cancers

almost all, if not all, cervical cancer is caused by HPV
Smoking. And although the majority of cases come from HPV, sometimes it's just genetic, particularly in African Americans. It's also generally really treatable...so good luck to your friend!
i've been in ob/gyn for ten years and in the beginning, they weren't sure why that was. but it is HPV. the same virus that causes warts. bleh. however, HPV is like the flu in that there are a jillion different strains out there. like the flut shot, every year they have to reformulate it since viruses mutate and change. well, HPV mutates and changes. it is now estimated that 80% of the sexually active population has HPV and half of those people don't know it. you can have it for years before getting a bad pap. and just because you get a bad pap, it doesn't mean you'll ever get a wart and vice versa.

there's a vaccine called Gardasil you can get now. it's a series of three injections and even if you already have HPV it can protect you from getting certain new strains that are the strains known to cause the atypical / pre cancerous / cancerous cells on the cervix.

HPV sucks! the gov't is starting an initiative to start giving all 13 year olds this vaccine in hopes to eventually, over generations, eradicate HPV. we have to get them before they have sex!!

oh, yeah. it's so highly transmittable that you can pass it from genitals to hands back to genitals even without sex. always, always wash your hands!!!

p.s. smoking doesn't cause cervical cancer. it increases the risk though. anyone that has HPV has a 70% less chance of getting pre cancerous cells than a smoker does. a non smoker's immune system is better and can actually NATURALLY heal 70% more cervical lesions on their own.

p.p.s. it's NOT genetic and NOT more prominent in certain ethnicities. race only has to do with the studies and research when they're saying a particular group of people are more sexually active. (inner city, rural, certain age groups, etc.)