Sexual Health STDs Treatment How Therapeutic Vaccines Work By Elizabeth Boskey, PhD facebook twitter linkedin Elizabeth Boskey, PhD, MPH, CHES, is a social worker, adjunct lecturer, and expert writer in the field of sexually transmitted diseases. Learn about our editorial process Elizabeth Boskey, PhD Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Jenny Sweigard, MD on October 13, 2020 linkedin Jenny Sweigard, MD, is a board-certified physician involved in patient care, including general medicine and critical care medicine. Learn about our Medical Review Board Jenny Sweigard, MD Updated on December 18, 2020 Print Therapeutic vaccines aren't like traditional immunizations that prevent infections. Therapeutic vaccines are used as a method of treatment. Therapeutic vaccines work by stimulating the immune system to target an infection or a type of disease-causing cell, such as a cancer cell. These vaccines help teach the body how to protect itself. What Is Immunotherapy and How Does It Work? Jeffrey Hamilton / Digital Vision / Getty Images HIV Scientists know that some people who are HIV positive are long term non-progressors whose bodies are capable of naturally keeping their HIV infections under control. Therefore, it is known that immune system control of HIV infection is theoretically possible. Researchers are working on developing a therapeutic vaccine to help people who already have HIV so they can maintain lower viral loads. HPV Scientists are looking for ways to help people's bodies do a better job of clearing human papillomavirus (HPV) infections to prevent their progression to cervical cancer or any of the other cancers HPV can cause in both women and men. This research actually overlaps with targeted cancer therapy research. Some HPV therapeutic vaccine research is aimed at attacking the tumors caused by HPV rather than attacking the viral infection directly. Herpes Herpes has also been examined in therapeutic vaccine research. There were some promising results from a small therapeutic vaccine trial published in 2017, which found that their trial vaccine was able to reduce both viral shedding and the number of new lesions. Hepatitis C Hepatitis C is usually treated with highly effective direct-acting antivirals but therapeutic vaccines may be studied as a potential treatment for this infection as well. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Mylvaganam GH, Silvestri G, Amara RR. HIV therapeutic vaccines: moving towards a functional cure. Curr Opin Immunol. 2015;35:1-8. doi:10.1016/j.coi.2015.05.001 Morrow MP, Yan J, Sardesai NY. Human papillomavirus therapeutic vaccines: targeting viral antigens as immunotherapy for precancerous disease and cancer. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2013 Mar;12(3):271-83. doi:10.1586/erv.13.23 Bernstein DI, Wald A, Warren T, et al. Therapeutic Vaccine for Genital Herpes Simplex Virus-2 Infection: Findings From a Randomized Trial. J Infect Dis. 2017;215(6):856-864. doi:10.1093/infdis/jix004 Feld JJ. Direct-Acting Antivirals for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV): The Progress Continues. Curr Drug Targets. 2017;18(7):851-862. doi:10.2174/1389450116666150825111314 Additional Reading Diniz MO, Cariri FA, Aps LR, Ferreira LC. Enhanced therapeutic effects conferred by an experimental DNA vaccine targeting human papillomavirus-induced tumors. Hum Gene Ther. 2013 Oct;24(10):861-70. doi: 10.1089/hum.2013.102. Johnston C, Gottlieb SL, Wald A. Status of vaccine research and development of vaccines for herpes simplex virus. Vaccine. 2016 Jun 3;34(26):2948-2952. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.12.076. Liang TJ. Current progress in development of hepatitis C virus vaccines. Nat Med. 2013 Jul;19(7):869-78. doi: 10.1038/nm.3183. Rodriguez B, Asmuth DM, Matining RM, Spritzler J, Jacobson JM, Mailliard RB, Li XD, Martinez AI, Tenorio AR, Lori F, Lisziewicz J, Yesmin S, Rinaldo CR, Pollard RB. Safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of repeated doses of dermavir, a candidate therapeutic HIV vaccine, in HIV-infected patients receiving combination antiretroviral therapy: results of the ACTG 5176 trial. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2013 Dec 1;64(4):351-9. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0b013e3182a99590. Zong J, Wang C, Wang Q, Peng Q, Xu Y, Xie X, Xu X. HSP70 and modified HPV 16 E7 fusion gene without the addition of a signal peptide gene sequence as a candidate therapeutic tumor vaccine. Oncol Rep. 2013 Dec;30(6):3020-6. doi: 10.3892/or.2013.2742.