The therapeutic vaccine: is it feasible?

In contrast to the prophylactic HPV vaccines that exhibit great promise in reducing the burden of cervical cancer, there is limited progress towards the development of immune therapeutic strategies that would help those women who are already infected with high-risk HPV and do not benefit from the current vaccines. The reason for this drawback is the lack of knowledge about the immune mechanisms that control the growth of HPV-infected or -transformed cells in vivo. It became evident that the preclinical models in rodents provide only limited information about the performance of a candidate vaccine in humans. In particular, the immune correlate for a clinical response remains to be determined. On the other hand, HPV-related malignancies provide an excellent model for cancer immune therapies in general. There is hope that the continuous efforts of academic research combined with corporate involvement will finally present an efficient product.