Overview of vaccinology with special reference to papillomavirus vaccines.
Viruses that belong to six different families are a significant cause for neoplasia in man and animals. Among them are the Papillomaviruses that cause uterine cervical cancer in women. Efforts to develop prophylactic vaccines against viruses that cause cancer are now a major research engagement. Vaccinology, the science of vaccines, engages the sciences of immunology and of microbiology, both relying heavily on molecular biology. Successful development of vaccines relies on extensive knowledge of immunology and vaccinology. Present efforts to develop vaccines against cervical cancer caused by Papillomaviruses are focused on use of the structural antigens L1 and L2 of the virus and on the oncoproteins E6 and E7. Work on Papillomavirus vaccines has been brilliantly conceived and executed and some of vaccines are now in clinical trial. Success may follow and Papillomavirus vaccine may join with the hepatitis B virus anti-cancer vaccine in the battle against cancers of man.
Hilleman
M R
MR
Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research, Merck Research Laboratories, 770 Sumneytown Pike, West Point, PA 19486, USA.
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D016233:Immunotherapy, Active; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000276:immunology*; D050725:Papillomavirus E7 Proteins; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D014765:Viral Vaccines
C068651:E6 protein, Human papillomavirus type 16; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral; D050725:Papillomavirus E7 Proteins; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines; C059731:oncogene protein E7, Human papillomavirus type 16