A novel HPV mRNA vaccine candidate: immunogenicity and definition of immune correlates of protection
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Human papillomavirus (HPV), the major cause of cervical cancer, continues to be associated with an increasing number of diagnosed cases despite the availability of licensed vaccines such as Cervarix™ and GARDASIL ® . In addition, cervical cancer incidence remains especially high in low- and middle-income countries, while vaccine coverage remains low due to high costs and instability in supply. We developed a novel HPV vaccine candidate using mRNA platform and to propose immune correlates of protection (CoP) for efficacy evaluation. A protection threshold was established based on GARDASIL ® 9, and the corresponding antibody titers were determined. These antibody titers were used as Reference for the immunogenicity analysis of the generated HPV16 mRNA. As a result, the vaccine was shown to induce a sufficiently significant level of protective efficacy. Furthermore, based on the immunogenicity data obtained from GARDASIL ® 9 and HPV16 mRNA, the minimum antibody titers required for protection were determined, thereby defining CoP for HPV vaccine. Additionally, HPV16 mRNA induced cellular immune responses associated with CD4- and CD8-specific cytokine secretion, suggesting potential protective mechanism in which cellular immunity complements humoral immunity. This study proposes an objective evaluation framework for comparing and analyzing HPV vaccine efficacy across different vaccine platforms.
Source: Frontiers in Immunology
Institution: Gachon University
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7223112475