Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Use of Interferon-γ Enzyme-linked Immunospot Assay to Characterize Novel T-cell Epitopes of Human Papillomavirus
Published on: March 8, 2012
Development of therapeutic HPV vaccines
Cornelia L Trimble1, Ian H Frazer
1Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA. ctrimbl@jhmi.edu
None:
At least 15% of human malignant diseases are attributable to the consequences of persistent viral or bacterial infection. Chronic infection with oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) types is a necessary, but insufficient, cause in the development of more cancers than any other virus. Currently available prophylactic vaccines have no therapeutic effect for established infection or for disease. Early disease is characterised by tissue sequestration. However, because a proportion of intraepithelial HPV-associated disease undergoes immune-mediated regression, the development of immunotherapeutic strategies is an opportunity to determine proof-of-principle for therapeutic vaccines. In this Review, we discuss recent progress in this field and priorities for future clinical investigations.
Related Concept Videos
Cancer Vaccines
Cancer vaccines come in two categories: preventive (prophylactic) and treatment (active). Preventive vaccines, such as the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, protect against viruses that cause certain...
Microorganisms in Medicine and Therapeutics
Vaccinations
Vaccine Production
Vaccines
Development of Immunocompetence
The initial cells that migrate from the fetal thymus settle within the skin and epithelial tissues lining the mouth, digestive tract, and in females, the uterus and vagina. These cells, including skin-based dendritic cells, serve as antigen-presenting cells, playing a key role in T cell activation.
Subsequent T...