Immunotherapy for gynaecological malignancies

Gynaecological malignancies, excluding breast cancer, cause similar to 25,000 deaths yearly among women in the US. Therefore, novel approaches for the prevention or treatment of these diseases are urgently required. In the case of cervical cancer, human papillomavirus (HPV) xenciantigens are readily recognised by the immune system, and their targeting has shown great promise in preclinical models of therapeutic vaccination and in clinical studies of peventative vaccination. A growing body of evidence indicates that ovarian cancer is also immunogenic and can thus be targeted through immunotherapy. This review outlines the principles and problems of immunotherapy for cervical and ovarian cancer, including the authors' personal assessment.