Development and Implementation of Papillomavirus Prophylactic Vaccines

Abstract

Translation of basic scientific findings into practical patient outcomes is a significant exercise even when the goal is conceptually straightforward, as in the development of a vaccine for an infectious disease. Recognition of the association of cervical cancer with papillomavirus infection encouraged development of a vaccine to help with prevention of this very common cancer, causing over 250,000 deaths each year worldwide. To introduce a vaccine program, it was however necessary to develop a technology for making viral Ag, demonstrate that systemic immunization could provide mucosal surface protection in the genital tract, develop assays for vaccine potency, and understand enough about the epidemiology and natural history of the infection to plan effective intervention strategies. This process took ∼25 years. The major hurdle, now that effective vaccines are available, is to ensure their deployment in the countries where they are most needed. The development and deployment of human papillomavirus vaccines demonstrate the benefits of collaborative research activity across the globe, and between academia and industry, to translate scientific discoveries into public health benefits.

Awareness and Attitude Relating to the Human Papilloma Virus and its Vaccines Among Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology Specialists in Turkey

“…Studies on HPV vaccine started in 1990s (Kahn et al, 2005;Frazer et al, 2014) and currently, HPV vaccine is not included in the national vaccine schedule. In Turkey, there are two HPV vaccines available on the market, containing 2 and 4 types of antigen, which have received authorization in 2007.…”

Fifty years of immunisation in Australia (1964–2014): The increasing opportunity to prevent diseases

“…In 1991, a team led by Professor Ian Frazer developed novel technology based on virus‐like particles leading to the manufacture of vaccines against the two major strains of HPV associated with cervical cancer (16 and 18) and two strains associated with genital warts (6 and 11) 15 16 achieving 83% coverage for the first dose and 70% coverage rate for the full three‐dose HPV vaccine schedule in adolescent girls turning 15 16 …”

HPV Vaccine: Updates and Highlights

“…In 1995, Breitburd et al [25] showed that vaccination with VLPs to protect domestic rabbits against papillomas induced by cottontail rabbit papillomavirus was possible. Further studies that examine the in vitro neutralizing activity of polyclonal antisera showed that the protection was type specific and the vaccine would need to be multivalent [24]. Subsequently, it was demonstrated that after immunization, serum IgG was exudated into the genital tract, ensuring the host protection [26].…”

“…The primary challenge for developing an HPV prophylactic vaccine was to find a source of antigens for HPV, as papillomavirus could not grow in culture. In the early 1990s, some researchers achieved expression of PV L1 and were able to produce VLPs [24]. The new challenge was proving that a vaccine based on VLPs would induce virus-neutralizing antibodies and host protection.…”

“…Based on these encouraging results, Merck and GSK developed and tested vaccine products. Merck developed the 4-valent vaccine that may protect against 90% of genital warts and 70% of cervical cancer and GSK make a 2-valent vaccine that would protect against 70% of cervical cancer, but not genital warts [24]. Phase I trials observed that intramuscular injection of prophylactic vaccines containing L1 VLPs was highly immunogenic [27, 28] and may also induce specific memory B-lymphocytes [29].…”