Cervical Cancer Awareness Month: 2020 Immunotherapy Research Update

The cancer death rate in the United States fell 2.2 percent from 2016 to 2017—the largest single-year decline in cancer mortality ever reported, according to newly released statistics. One of the many factors for this dramatic decline is new preventive vaccines for HPV-related cancers, including cervical cancer.

This January for Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, we look at the development of those preventive vaccines, ongoing work on therapeutic vaccines, and new options for cervical cancer patients.

Treating Gynecologic Cancers

During the research update panel at the 2019 CRI Immunotherapy Patient Summit in New York City, Claire Friedman, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discussed her research on immunotherapy to treat uterine, ovarian, and cervical cancers.

Preventive Vaccines for Cervical Cancer

Australia is on a course to eliminate HPV-associated cervical cancer in the next ten years thanks to the work of Ian H. Frazer, AC, FRS, FAA. The Cancer Research Institute funded Dr. Frazer’s foundational work leading to the preventive cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, and since the drug’s introduction in 2006, the number of new cases of cervical cancer has dropped significantly in the United States and around the world.

Read interview with Dr. Frazer

Promising Therapeutic Vaccines for Cervical Cancer

We spoke with Cornelis J. M. ‘Kees’ Melief, MD, PhD, shortly before he received the 2019 AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology for his work on the development of effective immunotherapies for virus-induced tumors. Dr. Melief’s groundbreaking work includes a novel vaccine strategy that uses synthetic long peptides to target cancers associated with HPV infection and is clinically promising in advanced cervical cancer (in combination with chemotherapy).

READ interview with Dr. Melief 

Gynecologic Cancer Scientist Spotlight

This CRI postdoctoral fellow Kristof Nolan, PhD, aims to determine the role of a specific immune molecule—a protein known as HLA-F—in the progression of gynecologic cancers. Dr. Nolan seeks to define how this protein interacts with the immune system at the molecular level to reveal a more complete view of the mechanisms at play, and ultimately, a possible path to new treatments.

Learn About Dr. Nolan’s gynecologic cancer research

Immunotherapy for Cervical Cancer
Information Updated

In addition to three preventive vaccines, there are currently two FDA-approved immunotherapies for cervical cancer. With every new breakthrough in immunotherapy, we keep our cervical cancer immunotherapy information up to date.

View Immunotherapy for Cervical Cancer Update

Find a Cervical Cancer Clinical Trial

Hundreds of new and promising cancer immunotherapy treatments are only available to patients in clinical trials. Our Clinical Trial Finder will match you to trials for which you may be eligible, and you can help speed the development of lifesaving drugs for yourself and others.

Find a Cancer Clinical Trial

Support Cervical Cancer Research

At the Cancer Research Institute, we’re proud to have funded work by Cornelis Melief, MD, PhD, for over a decade, to develop therapeutic vaccines to treat women who already have cervical cancer or are at risk of developing it. This work shows tremendous promise and may soon lead to new immunotherapy treatments for cervical cancer as well as other cancers caused by HPV. This Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, support lifesaving cancer immunotherapy research.

Donate to Cervical Cancer Research