Vaccination Use in the Prevention of Uterine Cancer

Introduction: The traditional therapeutic approaches to cancer constitute, to date, the most important techniques of treatment, with significant response rates and improvement in the survival of patients with cancer. In general, however, their action is neither completely selective nor specific, and results in cytotoxicity in both normal and cancerous cells, often with intolerable effects. Significant progress has been achieved in recent years in the understanding of the biology of cancer and has enabled the application of targeted therapies directed against selected molecular targets. Specifically, this has led to both the targeting of the specific tumor cells and the understanding of the mechanism of cytotoxicity in normal cells. The development and ongoing study of cancer vaccines are expected to lead to the creation of specialized immune memory, aimed at preventing possible tumor relapse. Aim: Review and analysis of the efficacy of vaccination strategies for patients with uterine cancer in clinical trials, focusing on possible future directions for the prevention and the potential reduction of the disease. Method: A comprehensive search was conducted in the bibliographical databases Medline, ScienceDirect, HEAL-Link during the period 2000–2011, using the following terms: “Cancer”, “cervical cancer”, “HPV”, “HPV E6”, “HPV E7”, “therapeutic vaccines”, “DNA vaccines”, giving 45 studies which were selected and analyzed. Results: The vaccines for HPV infection have shown better effectiveness, in 90%, in preventing persistent HPV infections and screening of precancerous lesions caused by the genotypes 6, 11, 16 and 18 HP up to five years following infection with HPV, both in women and men. Conclusions: The analysis suggests that a combination of the current preventive practices of vaccination of women and also of men is effective for the types of cancer caused by human papillomaviruses, and constitutes a promising approach, potentially determinant for the progression of the disease.