Objective: A review of current knowledge on the efficacy of HPV (human papillomavirus) HPV vaccination against pre-cancers and cervical cancer.
Methods and results: HPV infection is probably the most common sexually transmitted disease and the cause of approximately 5% of all human cancers. Currently, three prophylactic vaccines against HPV infection are on the market: bivalent Cervarix, quadrivalent Gardasil (formerly Silgard) and nonavalent Gardasil9. The Czech Republic is one of the countries with a national vaccination program where HPV vaccination is covered by health insurance for girls and boys aged 13-14 years. Extensive scientific data on the efficacy of the vaccines clearly demonstrate significant efficacy against the development of cervical pre-cancers for all three vaccines. According to a high-certainty evidence of the Cochrane database, the efficacy of HPV vaccines against cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or 3 associated with HPV 16, 18 compared with placebo in girls and women aged 15-26 is 99%. There is also moderate-certainty evidence that HPV vaccines reduce the risk of adenocarcinoma in situ for approximately 90% for the same population. Initial data also demonstrate a direct impact on reducing the incidence of invasive cervical cancer in vaccinated individuals. In addition, quadrivalent and nonavalent vaccines are highly effective in preventing genital warts.
Conclusion: All three available prophylactic vaccines show high efficacy in preventing the development of cervical lesions. Efficacy is highest against lesions caused by vaccine genotypes and the highest efficacy is achieved in the HPV naive population.
Keywords: HPV; HPV vaccine; cervical carcinoma; cervical precancerous; cervical uterine cancer; efficacy; human papillomavirus; vaccination.