Papillomavirus-like particle vaccines for cervical cancer

Most cervical cancers are now known to be caused by human papillomavirus (H PV) infections. This provides an opportunity to prevent a major cause of ca ncer deaths in women through vaccination. Subunit vaccines based upon non-i nfectious papillomavirus-like particles (VLPs) are attractive candidates to prevent infection by oncogenic HPVs, anal clinical trials are now underway in addition, the strongly immunogenic characteristics of VLPs raise the po ssibility that they could also serve as vehicles for inducing therapeutic r esponses against HPV-induced neoplasia and other diseases.