Vaccines against papillomavirus infections and disease.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix is the second cause of cancer-related deaths in women, the higher incidence being observed in developing countries. Infection with oncogenic types of human papillomavirus (HPV) is considered the major risk factor for the development of malignancies in the uterine cervix. However, HPV is considered to be a necessary but not sufficient cause for cervical cancer and, therefore, other factors contribute to the carcinogenic process, both present in the environment and from the host. Studies performed in animals, and more recently in humans, indicate that vaccination against the capsid proteins of the virus can prevent efficiently from infection. Furthermore, therapeutic vaccines are under investigation aiming the regression of papillomavirus induced tumors. The scientific basis for the development of papillomavirus vaccines and present status of clinical trials will be addressed in this chapter. This paper is available too at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html.