Klin Farmakol Farm. 2010;24(1):20-24

Current registered HPV vaccines

Roman Chlíbek, Jan Smetana, Vanda Boštíková

Katedra epidemiologie, Fakulta vojenského zdravotnictví Univerzity obrany, Hradec Králové

Currently, two vaccines against human papillomavirus (HPV) are available: bivalent vaccine Cervarix and quadrivalent vaccine Gardasil.

Although produced by the same recombinant technology, both vaccines differ in a number of features. They differ in the number and

amount of antigens, the production system used for the preparation of antigens, the adjuvant system and indication range. The uniqueness

of the two vaccines is in that they are the first truly anti-cancer vaccines which have expanded the possibilities of prevention by vaccination.

Another uniqueness of HPV vaccines is a significantly higher immune response to vaccination than to natural HPV infection. Given

that the most important role in HPV protection is played by serum virus-neutralising antibodies, the immunogenicity of the vaccine, high

IgG antibodies production and duration of vaccine-induced protection are of key significance for the high efficacy of HPV vaccination.

The first head-to-head data comparing the two vaccines in immunogenicity, efficacy and safety have become available. Nevertheless,

many questions remain concerning the duration of protection, the minimum protective level of antibodies, the need for booster doses,

the effect of natural HPV infection on the production of anamnestic antibodies and the role of memory B cells. The significance of HPV

vaccination lies in preventing the most common and most serious disease associated with HPV infection – cervical carcinoma.

Keywords: safety, cervical cancer, HPV, immunogenicity

Published: May 1, 2010  Show citation