Abstract: Cervical cancer causes serious damage to women′s health. It is clear that human papillomavirus （HPV） infection is the major pathogenic factor. HPV invades the organism by subtle injures. When E6 or E7 oncoprotein is continous expression in the epithelial tissue, high-risk HPV infections contribute to tumorigenicity. Detection of high-risk HPV infection and virus oncoprotein still cannot prevent cervical cancer effectively. Researchers begin to develop a vaccine against the HPV virus, and to prevent HPV infections from the sources, hoping to achieve the primary prevention of cervical cancer. Currently bivalent vaccine Cervarix against HPV 16/18 and quadrivalent vaccine Gardasil against HPV 16/18/11/16 have been approved for marketing. Prophylactic HPV vaccines have been used widely on a global scale and obtained significant effect. A new generation of prophylactic HPV vaccines have made a breakthrough in solving problems including cost, persistence and broad-spectrum immune. Cervical cancer is expected to become the first preventable cancer in the history of human anti-tumor. This review concentrates on the biological characteristics and pathogenic mechanism of HPV and the current application and situation of prophylactic HPV vaccines.

Key words: Papillomavirus vaccines, Uterine cervical neoplasms, Primary prevention