[Immune response in cervical cancer. Strategies for the development of therapeutic vaccines]

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Virology
• Oncology

Background:

• High-risk human papillomaviruses (HR-HPV), such as HPV-16, employ immune evasion strategies by inactivating innate immune cells.
• HPV-16 E6 and E7 genes suppress the type I interferon response, hindering immune system alerts due to the absence of viremia, cell death, inflammation, or damage signals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the potential of chimeric virus-like particles (cVLPs) as a novel strategy for both prophylactic and therapeutic intervention against HR-HPV infections and cervical cancer.

Main Methods:

• Review of current knowledge on HR-HPV immune evasion mechanisms.
• Analysis of the limitations of existing prophylactic vaccines (virus-like particles, VLPs) and therapeutic vaccines.
• Evaluation of cVLPs engineered to carry immunogenic peptides from E6 and E7 viral proteins.

Main Results:

• Existing VLPs are effective prophylactic vaccines but therapeutic approaches for high-grade lesions have shown limited success.
• cVLPs are designed to present E6 and E7-derived peptides, stimulating cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses.
• This approach presents a promising alternative for combined prophylactic and therapeutic applications.

Conclusions:

• Chimeric virus-like particles (cVLPs) represent a significant advancement in developing vaccines against HR-HPV.
• cVLPs hold potential for both preventing initial infection and treating existing high-grade neoplastic lesions, offering a dual therapeutic strategy.