Human papillomavirus screening and vaccines for cancer prevention: What is on the horizon?

This perspective aims to look at how the recently licensed human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, based on L1 virus-like particles (VLPs), will impact cervical cancer globally, and what remains to be done in this field. The current VLP vaccines protect against infection from a substantial proportion, but not all, of the oncogenic HPV genotypes, and they have no proven therapeutic benefit for patients with HPV disease. Furthermore, they are too costly for sustained global use, and it is unclear how they may impact current cytologic screening protocols. A number of new technologies show promise in addressing these issues, including molecular screening tools and alternative vaccine strategies.