UK to start trials of new cervical cancer vaccine

Britain’s Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) has announced plans to initiate human trials of a new vaccine against cervical cancer.

The vaccine is intended to boost the body’s immune system against human papillomavirus (HPV), which is associated with 95 percent of cervical cancer cases. In the initial trial, 24 women will receive different doses of the vaccine to see how their immune systems respond. Results of study will be available in mid-2002, and, if successful, the CRC and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund will launch a larger trial to see if the optimum dose helps prevent HPV infection.