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Molecular Vaccination
The approach that Leiden has chosen in developing a vaccine against cervical cancer, is based on a series of discoveries about the way the immune system works. Immune cells are capable of inspecting the contents of every cell in the body. Each cell has special molecules on its surface, HLA molecules, so the immune cells are presented with a catalogue of all the proteins that are present in the cell.
The HLA molecule presents one or more short characteristic parts of each protein. A vaccine that consists of similar parts of protein (peptides) is the purest possible kind of vaccination. Usually vaccines developed to fight infections consist of weakened or modified pathogens. On a molecular level this is a chaotic mixture of proteins that contains many superfluous elements. A vaccine that only consists of peptides and some essential additives keeps well in various conditions, because it can be kept and transported as a powder. This is an important factor to bear in mind, because the vaccine against cervical cancer will also be used in the tropics and in areas with poor infrastructure.