Fig. 4.

Partial protection against cutaneous challenge with HPV16 after vaccination with L2-recombinant adenoviruses without adjuvant. Legend: Balb/c mice (5/group) were vaccinated three times s.c. at 3 week intervals with either wild type or L2-recombinant Ad5 particles in the absence of adjuvant, or controls Gardasil (0.1x human dose) or synthetic HPV16 L2 17–36 peptide (20 nmol QLYKTCKQAGTCPPDIIPKV). Mice were shaved and then challenged on their belly with HPV16 pseudovirions after the final immunization and three days later the infection was assessed by imaging of bioluminescence (RLU). The data are presented as mean + SEM after subtraction of the mean background bioluminescence of unchallenged mice