Cervical cancer vaccine. Gloved hand holds a vial of vaccine to treat cervical cancer in women. This vaccine was developed by Professor T.C. Wu and his team at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, USA. Each year 200,000 women worldwide die of cervical cancer. Over 90% of this cancer is associated with infection by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV); an E7 antigen in this virus turns normal cervical cells cancerous. The cancer then rapidly multipli- es without being recognised by the immune system. The vaccine employs another genetically engineered virus (Vaccinia) to insert a molecular tag (LAMP- 1) in affected cells to make E7 recognisable. This alerts the immune system to kill the cancer cells.