Research progress of prophylactic HPV vaccines

Persistent infection with oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) types is a necessary cause of cervical cancer.More than 100 HPV genotypes have been identified, and they are classified into two groups, high-risk types and low-risk types.In Asia, HPV 16,18 and 58 are the predominant oncogenic types.Two prophylactic HPV vaccines CervarixTM and Gardasil(R), have recently been licensed in many countries.This article reviews the structure and function of HPV genes and the safety and immunogenicity of the two licensed vaccines. Key words: Papillomavirus vaccines;  Safety;  Immunogenicity