HPV and Skin Cancer Risk in Organ Transplant Recipients

This study is following organ transplant recipients over time to understand how often they get infections with HPV (a virus linked to certain cancers) and skin cancers. Because transplant recipients take medications to prevent their body from rejecting the new organ, their immune system is weakened, which may make them more vulnerable to these infections and cancers. Researchers will compare what happens in transplant recipients to what happens in people with normal immune systems.

Organ transplant recipients need to take immune-suppressing medications for life, which protects the transplanted organ but may increase cancer risk. By understanding how common HPV infections and skin cancers are in this population, and what factors make them more likely, doctors can better screen for and prevent these diseases.