Vaccines and Antibody Therapeutics for HPV-related Cancers

Application

Treatment and prevention of HPV-induced malignancies.

Key Benefits

• Identification of a protein expressed in a large number of HPV-induced cancers.
• Antibodies have been generated that bind to the protein and potentially elicit an immune response to the cancer cells.
• The antibodies can be used to develop new treatments and vaccines for HPV and other virally mediated cancers.

Market Summary

Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes nearly all cervical cancers and others of the vagina, vulva, penis, anus, and head & neck. Although three HPV vaccines have been approved and are highly effective in protecting against HPV-induced cancers, those who forego or are not able to be vaccinated are susceptible to these devastating cancers. Hence, there is a significant unmet need to develop new vaccines to prevent infection and therapies for millions of people at risk or suffering from HPV-induced cancers.

Technical Summary

Researchers at Emory have developed a new class of potential vaccines and treatments for HPV-associated cancers. The technology was developed by performing antibody screening of metastatic lymph nodes from eight patients with HPV-positive head and neck cancers. As a result, antibodies were identified specific to HPV cancers and directed towards the HPV E2 protein. The inventors plan future studies to develop therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the E2 protein as well as preventative vaccines for HPV cancers.