Vaccine development for pathogenic fungi: current status and future directions.

INTRODUCTION: Fungal infections are caused by a broad range of pathogenic fungi that are found worldwide with different geographic distributions, incidences, and mortality rates. Considering that there are relatively few approved medications available for combating fungal diseases and no vaccine formulation commercially available, multiple groups are searching for new antifungal drugs, examining drugs for repurposing and developing antifungal vaccines, in order to control deaths, sequels, and the spread of these complex infections. AREAS COVERED: This review provides a summary of advances in fungal vaccine studies and the different approaches under development, such as subunit vaccines, whole organism vaccines, and DNA vaccines, as well as studies that optimize the use of adjuvants. We conducted a literature search of the PubMed with terms: fungal vaccines and genus of fungal pathogens (Cryptococcus spp. Candida spp. Coccidioides spp. Aspergillus spp. Sporothrix spp. Histoplasma spp. Paracoccidioides spp. Pneumocystis spp. and the Mucorales order), a total of 177 articles were collected from database. EXPERT OPINION: Problems regarding the immune response development in an immunocompromised organism, the similarity between fungal and mammalian cells, and the lack of attention by health organizations to fungal infections are closely related to the fact that, at present, there are no fungal vaccines available for clinical use.

Effectiveness of a universal vaccination program with an HPV quadrivalent vaccine in young Brazilian women.

We examined human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine effectiveness in a nationwide sample of women aged 16 to 25 years who utilized the public health system in Brazil. This was a cross-sectional, multicentric survey conducted between September 2016 and November 2017 (POP-Brazil Study). A total of 5,945 young adult women were recruited from 119 public primary care units from all 27 federative units of Brazil by trained health professionals. The participants participated in a face-to-face interview and provided biological samples for genital HPV analysis. HPV genotyping was performed using a Linear Array HPV genotyping test in a central laboratory. Sampling weights were applied to the data. Overall, 11.92% (95% CI 10.65, 13.20) of the participants reported having been vaccinated. The frequency of vaccination was highest in 16- to 17-year-old women, with a decreasing vaccination rate with increasing age, and vaccinated women were more likely to belong to the high socioeconomic status group. The use of a quadrivalent vaccine decreased the HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18 by 56.78%, from 15.64% in unvaccinated women to 6.76% in vaccinated women (P < 0.01), even after adjustment for age. Those who received the vaccine had lower HPV 16 (2.34% in vaccinated vs 8.91% in unvaccinated, P < 0.01) and 6 rates (2.06% vs 5.77%, P < 0.01). Additionally, a higher rate of high-risk HPV types other than HPV 16 and 18 (40.47% in vaccinated vs 32.63% in unvaccinated, P < 0.01) was observed. In conclusion, the results of this study support the effectiveness of HPV vaccination in Brazil. Continuous surveillance must be assured to monitor the HPV infection rate in the vaccination era.

Acerca del cáncer cervicouterino como un importante problema de salud pública / About uterocervical cancer as an important public health problem

El cáncer se presenta como un importante problema de salud, dada la alta morbilidad y mortalidad que produce. Es uno de los procesos más complejos de la naturaleza y resulta el más complicado en la esfera de la medicina por su origen multicausal, la complejidad de sus mecanismos patogénicos y la variedad de formas y tipos que pueden originarse en el ser vivo. El objetivo de este trabajo es ofrecer información útil y actualizada acerca del cáncer cervicouterino. Esta enfermedad es prevenible y curable y se relaciona con la aparición del cáncer en vagina, cuello uterino, vulva y ano; en las mujeres se ha demostrado que la infección por el virus del papiloma humano es un factor de riesgo para su desarrollo. En la actualidad existen y se comercializan en el mundo dos tipos de vacuna, lo que se considera uno de los mayores avances en la medicina preventiva moderna. La aplicación de estas vacunas profilácticas contra el virus del papiloma humano podría reducir la incidencia y mortalidad por cáncer cervicouterino. Esta enfermedad constituye una de las entidades con más impacto y repercusión sobre la salud femenina, particularmente en las mujeres jóvenes. Está considerada una enfermedad emergente desde hace escasos años y sus consecuencias sociales, humanas y económicas lo convierten en un problema importante de salud pública y de la humanidad(AU)

Cancer represents an important health problem due to its high morbidity and mortality. It is one of the most complex processes of nature and the most complicated in medicine because of its multiple cause origin, the complexity of its pathogenic mechanisms and the variety of forms and types that may adopt in the subject alive. The objective of this paper was to provide useful and updated information on the uterocervical cancer. This disease is preventable and curable; it is related to the occurrence of cancer in the vagina, the uterine neck, the vulva and the anus. It has been proved that human papiloma virus infection is one of the risk factor for cancer in females. Two kinds of vaccine are marketed worldwide, and this is considered as one of the major advances in the modern preventive medicine. The administration of these prophylactic vaccines against the human papiloma could reduce the incidence and the mortality cause by uterocervical cancer, one of the diseases with high impact and repercussion on the female health, particularly in young females. It is considered an emerging disease and its human, social and economic consequences turn it into an important public health problem for mankind(AU)

Acerca del cáncer cervicouterino como un importante problema de salud pública / About uterocervical cancer as an important public health problem

El cáncer se presenta como un importante problema de salud, dada la alta morbilidad y mortalidad que produce. Es uno de los procesos más complejos de la naturaleza y resulta el más complicado en la esfera de la medicina por su origen multicausal, la complejidad de sus mecanismos patogénicos y la variedad de formas y tipos que pueden originarse en el ser vivo. El objetivo de este trabajo es ofrecer información útil y actualizada acerca del cáncer cervicouterino. Esta enfermedad es prevenible y curable y se relaciona con la aparición del cáncer en vagina, cuello uterino, vulva y ano; en las mujeres se ha demostrado que la infección por el virus del papiloma humano es un factor de riesgo para su desarrollo. En la actualidad existen y se comercializan en el mundo dos tipos de vacuna, lo que se considera uno de los mayores avances en la medicina preventiva moderna. La aplicación de estas vacunas profilácticas contra el virus del papiloma humano podría reducir la incidencia y mortalidad por cáncer cervicouterino. Esta enfermedad constituye una de las entidades con más impacto y repercusión sobre la salud femenina, particularmente en las mujeres jóvenes. Está considerada una enfermedad emergente desde hace escasos años y sus consecuencias sociales, humanas y económicas lo convierten en un problema importante de salud pública y de la humanidad

Cancer represents an important health problem due to its high morbidity and mortality. It is one of the most complex processes of nature and the most complicated in medicine because of its multiple cause origin, the complexity of its pathogenic mechanisms and the variety of forms and types that may adopt in the subject alive. The objective of this paper was to provide useful and updated information on the uterocervical cancer. This disease is preventable and curable; it is related to the occurrence of cancer in the vagina, the uterine neck, the vulva and the anus. It has been proved that human papiloma virus infection is one of the risk factor for cancer in females. Two kinds of vaccine are marketed worldwide, and this is considered as one of the major advances in the modern preventive medicine. The administration of these prophylactic vaccines against the human papiloma could reduce the incidence and the mortality cause by uterocervical cancer, one of the diseases with high impact and repercussion on the female health, particularly in young females. It is considered an emerging disease and its human, social and economic consequences turn it into an important public health problem for mankind

Desarrollo de una vacuna profiláctica de segunda generación contra el papilomavirus humano / Development of a second generation prophylactic vaccine against human papillomavirus

Los papilomavirus humanos (HPV) son el agente etiológico del cáncer cervical (CC), la segunda causa de muerte por cáncer en mujeres. Se estima que medio millón de nuevos cánceres se diagnostica cada año, ocurriendo la mayoría de ellos en países en vías de desarrollo debido a la ausencia o ineficiencia de los programas masivos de detección temprana. Recientemente se han introducido en el mercado dos vacunas profilácticas contra las principales cepas oncogénicas de HPV, la cepa 16 y 18, responsables por el 80% de todos los CC. Estas vacunas se obtienen en forma recombinante y han demostrado ser extremadamente seguras y eficaces. Sin embargo, su impacto inmediato en la incidencia de la infección por HPV en países en vías de desarrollo será mínimo, debido principalmente al alto costo de las mismas. Existe la necesidad de contar con vacunas de segunda generación, de bajo costo y de aplicación masiva que permitan disminuir sensiblemente el número de CC en la población. Con este objetivo hemos desarrollado una plataforma de expresión recombinante que permite obtener partículas tipo virus (VLPs) con las cuales es posible formular vacunas efectivas y accesibles contra la infección por HPV.

Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are the etiologic agent for cervical cancer (CC), the second cause of cancer death in women worldwide. It is estimated that half a million new cases are diagnosed each year, mostly in developing countries due to the lack of massive programs for early detection of the virus. Recently, two prophylactic vaccines against the main oncogenic HPV types 16 and 18 (responsible for 80% of CC) have been introduced into market. Both of these vaccines, obtained as recombinants, have been shown to be safe and effective; however, their high cost works against its immediate impact in the incidence of HPV infection in developing and low-income countries. There is a need to have in hand second generation, low cost vaccines of massive use that will decrease CC cases in a large extent. With this in mind, we have developed a recombinant expression platform that allows us to obtain virus-like particles (VLPs) to formulate both effective and accessible vaccines against HPV infection.

HPV vaccination: the beginning of the end of cervical cancer? - A Review

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for all cases of cervical cancer, as well as a great percentage of other anogenital tumors and oropharyngeal tumors. Since the main etiologic factor for these diseases is a virus, prophylactic measures are the best way to reduce the burden caused by the infection and associated disease. This review brings up to date information on the two commercially available prophylactic HPV vaccines against HPV, as well as presenting the ongoing research on HPV peptide, protein and dendritic cell based therapeutic vaccines.