Human Papillomavirus and the use of nanoparticles for immunotherapy in HPV-related cancer: A review.

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) remains one of the most commonly contracted sexually transmitted diseases around the world. There are a multitude of HPV types, some of which may never present any symptoms. Others, however, are considered high-risk types, which increase the chance of the person infected to develop cancer. In recent years, the utilization of nanotechnology has allowed researchers to employ and explore the use of nanoparticles in immunotherapies. The new nanoparticle frontier has opened many doors in this area of research as a form of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in cancers resulting from HPV. This review will provide a brief background of HPV, its relationship to head and neck cancer (HNC) and present some insight into the field of immunotherapeutic nanoparticles.