Cervical cancer and precancerous lesions of the genital tract aremajor threats to the health of women worldwide. The introduction ofscreening tests to detect cervical cancer precursor lesions has reducedcervical cancer rates in the developed world, but not in developingcountries. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the primary aetiologic agentof cervical cancer and precancerous lesions. Thus, cervical cancer andother HPV-associated malignancies might be prevented or treated byHPV vaccines. Two vaccine strategies have been developed. First, prevention of HPV infection through induction of capsidspecificneutralizing antibodies has been studied in clinical trials.However, because the capsid protiens are not expressed at detectablelevels by infected basal keratinocytes or in HPV-transformed cells, asecond approach of developing therapeutic vaccines by targeting nonstructural early viral antigens has also been developed. Because two HPVoncogenic protiens, E6 and E7, are critical to the induction andmaintenance of cellular transformation and are coexpressed in themajority of HPV-containing carcinomas, most therapeutic vaccines targetone or both of these gene products. A variety of approaches is beingtested in therapeutic vaccine clinical trials, whereby E6 and/ or E7 areadministered in live vectors, as peptides or protein, in nucleic acid form,or in cell-based vaccines. The paradigm of preventing HPV infectionthrough vaccination has been tested, and two vaccines are currently inphase III clinical trials. However, current therapeutic vaccine trials areless mature with respect to disease clearance. A number of approacheshave shown significant therapeuic benefit in preclinical papillomavirusmodels and awiat testing in patient populations to determine the mosteffective curative strategy.