Vaccine may head off genital cancer in women

Therapeutic shots can wipe out precancerous growths caused by HPV

A series of shots can knock out genital lesions in women infected with a dangerous strain of human papillomavirus, or HPV, a new study finds. Although the experimental vaccine wasn’t effective in everyone tested, most of the women showed benefits and many appear to have developed long-lasting immunity against this strain of HPV and the precancerous growths it can spawn.