Since the discovery of the causal association between human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer, efforts to develop an effective prophylactic vaccine to prevent high-risk HPV infections have been at the forefront of modern medical research. HPV causes 530,000 cervical cancer cases worldwide, which is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in women; a worldwide collaboration among epidemiologists, molecular biologists, vaccinologists, virologists, and clinicians helped lead to the development of two highly effective prophylactive HPV vaccines. The first, Gardasil, is a quadrivalent vaccine made up of recombinant HPV L1 capsid proteins from the two high-risk HPV types (16/18) responsible for 70% of cervical cancer cases as well as two low-risk HPV types (6/11) which are the causative agent for genital warts. The second, Cervarix, is a bivalent vaccine that was FDA approved three years after Gardasil and is also composed of L1 capsid proteins from HPV types 16/18. This review article focuses on the safety and efficacy data of both FDA-approved vaccines, as well as highlighting a few advances in future HPV vaccines that show promise in becoming additional treatment options for this worldwide disease.
Keywords: Cervarix; Gardasil; HPV; cervical cancer; pap smear; vaccination; virology.