A Success Story in the Fight Against Cervical Cancer
The world’s first vaccine that was developed to prevent a specific type of cancer was launched on the US market in late June. Research results obtained by scientists of the German Cancer Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) were the basis for developing the vaccine.
About three decades ago, Professor Dr. Harald zur Hausen, who was to become Scientific Director of the DKFZ and headed the Center for many years, postulated a connection between an infection with wart viruses (human papillomaviruses, HPV) and the development of cervical cancer. Several years later, researchers in his laboratory were able to prove that specific types of these viruses are indeed causally involved in the development of such tumors.
The finding that cervical cancer is caused by viruses soon gave scientists the idea to prevent the disease by vaccinating against the pathogen. The classical method of vaccine production, i.e. growing and subsequently inactivating the virus, was not an option with HPV: It is not possible to grow the virus in the lab. Therefore, the only way to produce a vaccine was gene technology.
In the early 1990s, researchers found out that a single protein, called L1, of the viral protein capsid can spontaneously cluster together to form "empty" virus particles called virus-like particles (VLP). These particles are ideal as a vaccine, since they are treated by the immune system like “real” viruses due to their almost identical structure. Yet they do not contain any genetic material and, thus, are not infectious. Professor Dr. Lutz Gissmann of the German Cancer Research Center and his collegues, collaborating with the US National Institutes of Health, succeeded in producing large amounts of VLPs on the basis of an L1 gene isolated from HPV16. The DKFZ and the NIH jointly own the patents on this gene, which serves as a basis for the vaccine that has now become available.
The vaccine is directed against the chief cancer-causing types, HPV16 and HPV18, and also against types HPV6 and 11 that cause genital warts (Condylomata acuminata). It protects against about 70 percent of cervical cancers. The vaccine was tested in clinical trials including 25,000 women and was found to prevent precancerous lesions associated with HPV16 or HPV18 to one hundred percent. In Germany, the vaccine is expected to be approved early next year and will be marketed by Sanofi Pasteur MSD GmbH.
Cervical cancer is a major health problem in Third World countries, where cancer screening programs are often unavailable. In Germany, despite the introduction of an early detection program covered by the statutory health insurance in the 1970s, approximately 6,500 women get cervical cancer each year; 1,762 women succumbed to the disease in 2003.
With more than 3,000 employees, the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. DKFZ scientists identify cancer risk factors, investigate how cancer progresses and develop new cancer prevention strategies. They are also developing new methods to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more successfully. The DKFZ's Cancer Information Service (KID) provides patients, interested citizens and experts with individual answers to questions relating to cancer.
To transfer promising approaches from cancer research to the clinic and thus improve the prognosis of cancer patients, the DKFZ cooperates with excellent research institutions and university hospitals throughout Germany:
The DKFZ is 90 percent financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and 10 percent by the state of Baden-Württemberg. The DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.
