Molecular Approaches Target to Immunotherapy for HPV-Associated Cancers

Infection with human papillomavirus (HPVs) causes many cancers, which account for about 10-20% of total human cancers. Two recently developed prophylactic vaccines against virus infection confer strong immunogenicity to provide long-term protection. The use of these vaccines has contributed to a substantial decrease in the rates of cervical cancer the second most common cancer of women worldwide. However, therapeutic vaccines that can eliminate preexisting HPV infections and treat an existing HPV-caused cancer have not been developed.

In this short review, we discuss development of immunotherapy for HPV-associated cancers and recent progresses in our understanding of the immunopathology of HPV infection.

Recent research advances have shown that molecular approaches target to immunotherapy for HPV infection-induced cancers to have the great potential and promise for developing immunotherapeutic vaccines. So far, the vast majority of the immunotherapeutic vaccines that are being tested are designed to target HPV viral genes and their proteins especially two E6 and E7 oncogenes.

The developing immunotherapeutic vaccines aim to boost cell-mediated immunity. The boosted cell-mediated immunity strengthens the body's natural defenses to fight active infection and disease, thus to treat the existing cancers.