Human papillomavirus (HPV)
infection represents the most important risk factor for the development of
cervical dysplasia and
cervical cancer. Several lines of evidence suggest that cell-mediated immune responses are important in controlling both
HPV infections and HPV-associated
neoplasia. Since HPV E6 and E7
oncoproteins are expressed in these lesions and are necessary for the maintenance of the malignant phenotype, these
proteins might be potential
tumor-specific target
antigens for
immunotherapy of
cervical cancer. The gold standard treatment for locally advanced
cervical cancer is primary
radiation therapy combined with
chemotherapy. A potential drawback of this potentially curative treatment is a profound and long lasting negative effect on the immune system. Treatment-induced immunosuppression combined with
tumor-induced subversion of the immune system may therefore impose severe limitations on the efficacy of conventional vaccination strategies in late stage
cervical cancer patients. The recognition of dendritic cells (DC) as powerful antigen-presenting cells capable of inducing primary T cell responses in vitro and in vivo, has recently generated widespread interest in DC-based
immunotherapy of several human
malignancies. Here, we review various therapeutic
HPV vaccines being developed and implemented in human clinical trials, with a particular emphasis on the use of autologous DC pulsed with full-length HPV 16 or 18 E7
oncoproteins as a novel strategy to induce HPV E7-specific and
tumor-specific T cell responses in
cervical cancer patients following conventional treatment.