Nanotechnology based vaccines: Cervical cancer management and perspectives

In spite of being highly preventable through screening strategies and early vaccination, cervical cancer has become the utmost common type of gynaecological malignancy globally and emerged as major cause of death from cancer in women. Estimation have been made that cancer associated with Human papillomavirus (HPV) accounts for 5% of all the cancers. Presently, HPV vaccines are effective in preventing neoplastic disease as well as infection, but they are prophylactic and ineffective in clearing established infection. Owing to which, there is a need for the exploration of therapeutic vaccines that can trigger the immune response for established infection. Moreover, E6 and E7 early genes are stated to be suitable target for the vaccine therapy because of their imperative role in cell cycle disruption and detectable expression in both malignant and pre-malignant tissues. Thus, various therapeutic vaccines like cell-based, nucleic acid-based, protein-based, peptide-based and live-vector vaccines have been developed and few candidate vaccines are now under clinical trials. Furthermore, ineffectiveness of conventional therapies to yield effective result for cervical cancer treatment has shifted the focus of researchers towards nanotechnology for target delivery of therapeutic agent. Hence, this review aims to comprehends the current known knowledge about cervical cancer and conventional approaches for its treatment. It also highlights the recent progressive development in vaccine strategies and nanotechnological approaches for effective management and prevention of cervical cancer.