According to new research, two drugs marketed for breast cancer and osteoporosis treatment, have also proven effective in eliminating cervical cancer in animal studies, keeping pre- cancerous growths in the cervix and vagina from turning cancerous, including preventing the onset of cancer in mice with pre-cancerous lesions.

Sang-Hyuk Chung, PhD, a research associate at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, whose study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Early Edition said, if the animal study effects can be translated to humans, then it opens up another treatment possibility.

However, experts reviewing the research for WebMD say it must be viewed as preliminary research, taking years to get results from potential clinical trials.

According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 11,270 new cases of cervical cancer are expected this year, with approximately 4,070 women dying from the disease. Cervical cancer treatment options range from surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, wholly dependent on the stage detected at.

For the study, researchers tested the drugs on mice genetically engineered for carrying the human papillomavirus ( HPV) 16, a strain strongly associated with cervical cancer.

According to the CDC, genital HPV with its many different strains, is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the USA, and while some infections can be prevented with the new vaccines, already present infections or pre-cancerous growths cannot be eliminated.

However, HPV infections do not always develop into cervical cancer, with the virus often clearing up on its own. Since, all HPV-infected women do not go on to develop cervical cancer, the researchers suspecting another factor to be in play, focused on oestrogen, a hormone the cervix and other female organs are highly responsive to.

It is a well-known fact that using birth control pills over the long-term, including multiple pregnancies serve to raise the risk of cervical cancer in HPV-infected women. According to Chung, for cervical or vaginal cancer to develop in their mouse model, there was a requirement for estrogen. Based on this, the researchers gave Faslodex used for treating certain breast cancers to the mice, including Evista, an osteoporosis that also reduces the risk of breast cancer in some women.

The two drugs prevented the oestrogen from working in the cervical cells, and a month later looking at the results, the researchers found over 90% of given either Faslodex or Evista treatment did not have cancer, while pre-cancerous growths were eliminated.

Certainly, the study has limitations, being only a small study, however, more definitive studies are required for saying a treatment for cervical cancer has been found.