Natural history of HPV infection in men: The HIM study.

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The HIM Study is a prospective HPV natural history study among men in the US, Mexico, and Brazil. The goal is to further our understanding of the natural history of HPV infection in men so that effective programs can be developed to reduce cancer burden in both men and women. The specific aims are to establish a cohort of 3,000 men ages 18-44 years examined every 6 months for 4 years; determine the incidence and persistence of type-specific genital HPV infections; study the humoral immune response to HPV infection; and, identify factors independently associated with acquisition, persistence, and clearance of type-specific HPV infections in men. Between December 2005 and June 2006, 840 men enrolled to the HIM Study. Preliminary analyses of enrollment questionnaire data indicate that the majority of men have completed a high school education (96.4%), 46.3% are circumcised, 53.6% report an age at first intercourse younger than 17 yrs., 33.6% report having >10 lifetime number of sexual partners, 66.7% of men with a current sexual partner report sexual relations with only one sexual partner in the past three months (monogamy), and 33.8% report having a new sexual partner in the past three months. Follow-up compliance for this cohort at enrollment following a run-in visit and at 6 months is 86% and 90% respectively. In samples combined from the coronal sulcus, glans penis, shaft, and scrotum we observe beta-globin positively in 98.7% of samples. To date, HPV prevalence of HIM Study participants at enrollment is 56.5% with 26.2% oncogenic, and 33.4% non-oncogenic infections. HPV 51 (8.2%) and 16 (7.9%) are the most commonly detected oncogenic HPV infections and HPV 6 (6.6%) and 62 (5.7%) are the most commonly detected non-oncogenic infections.