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(Ivanhoe Newswire) Highly effective vaccines designed to prevent cervical cancer are widely available in developed nations but are often too expensive to be used in much of the world. New, simpler to manufacture, vaccines that protect against a wider spectrum of human papillomavirus (HPV) types could be the key to saving more lives across the world, according to a new study.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University tested an alternate vaccine, called multimeric-L2 protein vaccine, on mice and rabbits and found that it produced robust antibody responses against all HPV types tested. Current HPV L1-based vaccines are almost 100 percent protective against infection by the two HPV types that are responsible for 70 percent of all cervical cancer cases worldwide, but the existing vaccines provide limited protection against the other HPV types that cause cancer, researchers said.
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If an L2 vaccine were proven effective in people, its simpler manufacturing process could make the local production of such a vaccine highly feasible, which might achieve the goal of producing it at sustainable prices in emerging countries and lead to its widespread implementation in the developing world, the authors wrote.
In an accompanying editorial, Spanish scientists praised the study's results but cautioned that it will likely take years to evaluate the new products in clinical trials, so the currently available vaccines should be used as widely as possible.
SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, published online on May 26, 2009
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