Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 31, 2006|Volume 34, Number 24

Researchers make strides on vaccine
that could slow growth of cervical cancer

Researchers at the School of Medicine have made promising advances in finding a vaccine for women infected with human papilloma virus (HPV), which is known to cause cervical cancer.

The findings were presented March 24 at the 2006 Society for Gynecologic Investigation (SGI) Annual Meeting in Toronto. The work was been selected for the 2006 SGI President's Presenter Award.

The researchers used the vesicular stomatitis virus to deliver an HPV protein in mice in order to generate an immune response to attack tumor cells containing HPV proteins. Fourteen days after therapeutic vaccination, tumor volumes in the mice that received a placebo were six times the size of those that received the vesicular stomatitis virus vaccine.

"In addition to demonstrating decreased rates of tumor growth, we also showed that the anti-tumor effect is dependent on the generation of CD8 T cells, a specific class of immune cells," says Dr. John B. Liao, associate research scientist in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences.

Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women worldwide. While recent advances in vaccination deal with preventing the disease, the use of vaccination to treat women already infected is also an area of active study.

Liao stresses that the work is very preliminary. The next step in the research process is studying tumor cells that are closer to the human disease, he says. The team will also look at ways in which the tumor is able to escape immune response.

Other Yale authors on the abstract included graduate student Jean Publicover; John K. Rose, professor of pathology; and Dr. Daniel DiMaio, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor and vice chair of genetics and therapeutic radiology.

-- By Karen Peart

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