A Step towards Resolving the Mystery of HPV Vaccination: Breakthrough of Cervical Cancer

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in women worldwide, with about 500,000 cases and over 270,000 deaths estimated annually. The disease is caused due to the persistent infection of one or more type of high risk HPVs in which HPV-16/18 are the most common. In India, HPV-16 is the most prevalent type of High risk HPV associated with cervical cancer risk. In the year 2006-2007, two VLP based prophylactic HPV vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix came into the market. Recently in 2014, a new nonavalent vaccine Gardasil9 has been licensed as the improvised form of tetravalent Gardasil by FDA. Though HPV vaccines prevent its spread and persistence but they are insufficient in reverting or eliminating the already established invasive cancers. Besides, these vaccines are also having certain limitations which includes require refrigeration, higher cost, limited serotype and efficacy is person dependent. To overcome the limitations of the available vaccines, the development of second generation vaccines e.g. capsomere based vaccines, plant based edible vaccines, recombinant live-vector vaccines, protein and peptide based vaccines, multi-epitopic based vaccines and DNA-based vaccines is under way. These vaccines will be heat stable, cost effective and may apply both in prevention and also in the treatment of cancers. It has been stated that cervical cancer is detected mainly in women older than 35 years suggesting HPV infection at a younger age and slow progression to cancer at an older age. It is really difficult to promote vaccination for younger girls in countries like India to prevent the onset of the disease because of the cultural and prestigious issues related to STDs. So there is an urging need in India for the development of therapeutic vaccine for the eradication of the devastating disease as well as to meet the global responsibility of achieving herd immunity.

Quantifying the Effects of Medical Examination and Possible Risk Factors against the Incidence of Cervical Cancer in a Low Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Coverage: An Ecological Study in Japan

“…To prevent the infection of HR-HPVs and subsequent development of CC, the successful development of HPV vaccines has led to a breakthrough in the prevention of CC [ 7 ]. Unlike other cancers, CC can be prevented by early use of the HPV vaccine and may potentially be eradicated entirely [ 8 ].…”