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Both Bettie Steinberg, PhD and Ian Frazer, MD are experts on HPV/RRP. They have indicated in private discussion with the director of RRP ISA that Gardasil might very well act prophylactically to prevent further spread of RRP/HPV to the lungs in patients already diagnosed with laryngeal or tracheal RRP.

There isn't much that can help pulmonary RRP, unfortunately. Interferon (Intron A or Alferon, not Roferon for reasons explain in the Learn>Treatment Strategies page on Interferon)) can perhaps slow it down.

Systemically administered cidofovir has been reported ineffective and is extremely toxic in any event.

If the infection is already in the lungs, I would be disinclined to use Gardasil. The question is whether administration of this agent might not cause the pulmonary RRP to flare, however briefly.We have not heard of that, but until it is studied, it doesn't seem worth the chance.

We have (8/2008) received one patient report in which pulmonary papillomas "disappeared" following the administration of a course of artemisinin.The patient was herself a pre-medical student and had a long history of RRP. We believe the use of ART on pulmonary RRP needs to be studied and that early results in the use of ART and RRP (see Learn>Novel Therapies) are exciting.

One of our board members, a registered nurse for many years who has had RRP since she was a a very young child, went on to develop lung cancer. After treatment with artemisinin, some (but not all) of the lesions disappeared, as shown on a CT report that both of us reviewed.

We have heard of several patient reports on the use of Tarceva, and how this seems to have slowed or resolved pulmonary RRP, but these reports are few. A world class authority on head and neck cancer, Dr. Renato Martins, verbally reported that one patient with pulmonary RRP dramatically responded to Tarceva. He said he would be publishing the findings. We haven't seen that citation, however.

Note that Tarceva is an epidermal growth factor (EFGR) inhibitor . Pulsed use of it might serve as a stop-gap measure. Extended use of it will drastically affect the body's own ability to engage in self-healing, and over time, the side-effects should be expected to get MUCH worse. This is not speculative. This writer has witnessed it in a patient. EFGR drugs inhibit healing, and this has been confirmed by molecular biologists such as Drs. Steinberg, Broker, and others. Tarceva is at best a short-term solution. It is not a long-term solution.

See http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news/Combination-therapy-shows-promising-results-in-patients-with-advanced-lung-cancer-3627-1/.

Celebrex can potentiate Tarceva up to three times. This report, therefore, might have enormous applicability with respect to pulmonary RRP. The potentiation doesn't necessarily mean three times the side effects since these two drugs operate differently. It may well be that the two approaches complement each other. Still, more research would need to be done before ruling out the possibility that side effects from Tarceva are not exacerbated.