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News
Therapeutic HPV Vaccine Shows Promise for Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 22 - A new vaccine based on human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 chimeric virus-like particles is safe and may prove effective in treating high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2/3, according to a report in the December 15th issue of the International Journal of Cancer.
"New and better therapeutic vaccine approaches are recently under investigation," Dr. Andreas M. Kaufmann from Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet, Jena, Germany, told Reuters Health. "We have not solved all problems, but we are making progress."
Dr. Kaufmann and colleagues investigated the safety and sought to get a first impression on the efficacy of four consecutive administrations of
HPV16 L1E7 chimeric virus-like particles against cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2/3 in 39 women who were also positive for HPV16 and negative for other high-risk HPV types.
The vaccine, given in 75 or 250 microgram doses, was well tolerated, the authors report. The most common adverse events were injection site reactions and headaches.
The vaccine groups showed a significant boost in L1-specific and E7-specific antibodies, and all antibody responses were significantly higher than those in the placebo group. The response rate was comparable for the two doses.
There was no clear correlation between immunologic responses and clinical responses, the investigators note. However, 56% of responders became HPV16 DNA-negative at the end of the study.
"This trial was originally designed as a phase I safety and toxicity trial," Dr. Kaufmann said. "Therefore, it was not powered for clinical response; that was evaluated as an observational endpoint."
"We are performing an in-depth analysis of the T cell responses to the vaccine (L1 and E7 antigens)," Dr. Kaufmann added. "These data will be published in the near future."
Int J Cancer 2007;121:2794-2800.
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