On the relationship between human papilloma virus vaccine and autoimmune diseases

A sudden onset of a pseudo-neurological syndrome after HPV-16/18 AS04-adjuvated vaccine: might it be an autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA) presenting as a somatoform disorder?

“…Most vaccine-related side effects are local reactions. As concerns the specific issue of autoimmunity, no significant increase in the incidence of several immune-mediated disorders was demonstrated in the medical literature as following HPV vaccine [26,27]. However, the absence of statistical evidence in the epidemiological studies so far performed should not be automatically translated in the certainty that a causal link between vaccines and autoimmune diseases must be rejected.…”

“…Current evidences supported the acceptance of a causal relationship only for anaphylaxis, even though a higher rate than that expected has been described for venous thrombosis in a few studies [11,12]. As concerns the specific issue of autoimmunity, the review by Pellegrino et al [27] found no significant increase in the incidence of several immunemediated disorders after the regular vaccine schedule, despite the abundance of concerning reports in the medical literature. However, there are still some concerns on the induction some autoimmune diseases and, especially, several inflammatory neurological disorders, reported as arising after HPV vaccines and others.…”

Vaccination and Autoimmune Phenomena

“…However, this ways keep in mind that a certain number of cases of temporal connection between HPV vaccine and autoimmune disease onset or exacerbation is almost inevitable to occur, given that this vaccine is offered to a population with relatively high incidence of AID, and at an age not far removed from the age of peak incidence of some AID, such as MS. Reports of such instances, therefore, need to be interpreted in the proper context. Importantly, vaccine vigilance data and controlled studies where risk of AID was compared between HPV-vaccinated and matched unvaccinated populations failed to find any significant difference in risk of developing an AID, suggesting that causal connection between HPV vaccine and autoimmunity must, at the very most, be a rare occurrence (59) and that HPV vaccines in use continue to display a favorable safety profile (60,61). Addressing the ongoing public controversy, the Global Advisory Committee of the World Health Organization, after carefully considering all available evidence, concluded that there is no proof of significant risk of autoimmune adverse reactions to HPV immunization, with the possible exception of GuillainBarré syndrome (62).…”

Evaluation of optic neuritis following human papillomavirus vaccination

“…15 Over the past decade, reports of serious adverse events (AEs) including autoimmune diseases among vaccine recipients have heightened the public's concern regarding safety of the new vaccines. [16][17][18][19] Some AEs temporally associated with HPV vaccines [20][21][22][23] have caused debate among providers and the general public, although there are no data to support a causal association. Based on results from clinical trials, post-licensure surveillance, and observational studies, FDA and CDC consider the HPV vaccines safe and effective.…”