Vaccination against human papillomaviruses shows great promise

Abstract

It took almost 10 years from the discovery of an association between human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer to the finding of HPV type 16 in cervical cancer tissue. It took another 10 years to show that past infection with HPV16 increases the risk for subsequent development of invasive cervical cancer and yet another decade to show that the seven most prevalent HPV types cause 87% of all cervical cancers. By comparison the creation of HPV virus-like-particle (VLP) vaccines has been a rapid breakthrough. VLPs mimic the true structure of the virion and induce a striking antibody response after vaccination. 2 years ago Koutsky et al showed that vaccination with HPV16 VLPs protected 768 vaccinated women from persistent HPV16 infection. In today’s Lancet Diane Harper and colleagues now expand this rapid development in a phase 2 trial in just over 1100 participants a study that lasted 2.5 years. VLPs of the two most important oncogenic HPV types HPV16 and HPV18 were combined in a preventive vaccine. According to protocol and intention-to-treat analyses showed high efficacy for this bivalent vaccine against both the incident and persistent HPV16 and HPV18 infections. (excerpt)