Towards vaccines against human papillomavirus type-16 genital infections

Abstract

Human papillomavirus type-16 (HPV-16) is strongly associated with cervical carcinoma and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. It may soon be possible to develop prophylactic vaccines designed to induce neutralizing antibodies to HPV-16 virions in genital secretions and therapeutic vaccines to induce cytotoxic T-cell responses against HPV-16 early proteins in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancers. Although significant advances have been achieved, problems remain before such vaccines can be used routinely.