Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Obstet Gynecol. Feb 10, 2016; 5(1): 16-27
Published online Feb 10, 2016. doi: 10.5317/wjog.v5.i1.16
Human papilloma virus vaccination: Review article and an update
Zahra Maleki
Zahra Maleki, Department of Pathology, Division of Cytopathology, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
Author contributions: Maleki Z collected the data and wrote the entire paper without any assistance.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Author declares no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Zahra Maleki, MD, Assistant Professor of Pathology, Department of Pathology, Division of Cytology, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe Street/Pathology 412C, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States. zmaleki1@jhmi.edu
Telephone: +1-410-9551180 Fax: +1-410-6149556
Received: June 30, 2015
Peer-review started: July 5, 2015
First decision: October 13, 2015
Revised: December 15, 2015
Accepted: December 29, 2015
Article in press: January 4, 2016
Published online: February 10, 2016
Abstract

Human papilloma virus (HPV) is sexually transmitted and associated with uterine cervix, vaginal, and vulvar cancers in females, oropharyngeal and anal cancer in both genders, and penile cancer in males. Moreover, genital warts are benign tumors which are HPV-related and can occur in both genders. This is a review of HPV structure, HPV infection transmission, the global impact of HPV and its associated diseases, HPV vaccines and their efficacy and safety, public acceptance of HPV vaccines, the obstacles for its acceptance and strategies to address the barriers. Cervarix (a bivalent vaccine with protection against HPV types 16 and 18) and Gardasil (a quadrivalent vaccine with protection against HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18) are 2 recommended vaccines. The longest follow up of 9.4 years has shown efficacy and protection of the vaccine against HPV types 16 and 18. The adverse effects have been minimal and the vaccine is considered safe. Numerous studies are conducted to follow the vaccinated individuals to better understand the effect of HPV vaccine on incidence of HPV-related cancers and precancerous lesions.

Keywords: Human papilloma virus, Cervarix, Gardasil, Gardasil 9, Vaccine, Review

Core tip: Human papilloma virus (HPV) is sexually transmitted in both genders and it is a global issue. High risk HPVs are associated with a variety of cancers and low risk HPVs are associated with genital warts. HPV types 16 and 18 account for 70% of cervical cancer in women. Bivalent (Cervarix), and quadrivalent (Gardasil) vaccines are recommended to prevent HPV 16 and 18 related cancers with additional protective effect of Gardasil against HPV 6 and 11. Herein, HPV-related cancers and their incidences, low risk HPV related neoplasms and HPV vaccines, their efficacy and safety are reviewed. Moreover, the obstacles for global vaccination are addressed.