| Cervical cancer continues to be a major global health care problem and remains the second leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. A clear understanding of HPV as a necessary cause and the pathogenesis of cervical cancer has created an opportunity to control cervical cancer through vaccination against HPV. The licensed HPV preventive vaccines represent a triumph for HPV vaccine development. While these preventive HPV vaccines have proven to be highly effective in protecting against cervical disease relating to the HPV types included in the vaccine, they have partial or no efficacy against other HPV types. Furthermore, because these vaccines contain only two oncogenic HPV types, HPV-16 and 18, which account for approximately 70% of cervical cancers, they do not provide protection against all cervical cancers. An ideal preventive vaccine should provide broad protection against most high-risk HPV types as well as be cost-efficient in order to be made available in low-resource areas to maximize the impact of vaccination on the global cervical cancer burden. Currently, significant efforts have been made in the development of a cost-effective, pan-preventive vaccine targeting the HPV minor capsid protein, L2. The existing preventive HPV vaccines are not effective in controlling pre-existing HPV infection. This is a serious concern since there is currently a considerable burden of HPV infections worldwide. Thus, in order to accelerate the control of cervical cancer and to treat currently infected patients, it is important to develop therapeutic vaccines against HPV. Various forms of therapeutic vaccines targeting HPV E6 and E7 antigens are currently being developed in preclinical models. The encouraging results from some of these preclinical studies have led to their translation to clinical trials.
Dr. Wu is Professor of Pathology ,Oncology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland. |
Conference Program
Scientific Meeting 2008
