Self-adjuvanting lipoimmunogens for therapeutic HPV vaccine development: potential clinical impact

The goal of therapeutic HPV vaccines is the induction of cytotoxic T lymphocyte immunity against HPV-associated cancers. Recombinant proteins and synthetic peptides have high safety profiles but low immunogenicity, which limits their efficacy when used in a vaccine. Self-adjuvanting lipid moieties have been conjugated to synthetic peptides or expressed as lipoproteins to enhance the immunogenicity of vaccine candidates. Mono-, di- and tri-palmitoylated peptides have been demonstrated to activate dendritic cells and induce robust cellular immunity against infectious diseases and cancer. Recently, a platform technology using the high-yield production of recombinant lipoproteins with Toll-like receptor 2 agonist activity was established for the development of novel subunit vaccines. This technology represents a novel strategy for the development of therapeutic HPV vaccines. In this review, we describe recent progress in the design of therapeutic HPV vaccines using lipoimmunogens.