Associations between human herpesvirus-6, human papillomavirus and cervical cancer

• Why some women are able to clear HPV infection with no adverse effects, while others develop cervical cancer remains unknown.
• HHV-6, an understudied potential cofactor in cervical cancer development, can be present in the female genital tract.
• Whether HHV-6 may be a cofactor in HPV-associated carcinogenesis remains unclear due to major gaps in evidence to date.

Cervical cancer (CxCa) is the second most common cancer among women globally. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is thought to be a necessary, but not sufficient, causal factor in CxCa development. Why some women are able to clear HPV infection with no adverse effects, whereas others develop cancer, remains unclear. HHV-6 has demonstrated transformative abilities and has been shown to be present in the genital tract. However, based on the current evidence, we cannot conclude that HHV-6 is a co-factor in HPV-associated carcinogenesis. Nonetheless, future research is warranted because of several crucial gaps in the literature.