A synthetic vaccine for human papillomavirus that can be delivered as a nasal spray has been successfully tested on mice, researchers say. The new vaccine would be able to offer protection against different strains of HPV, the source of the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States and a cause of cervical cancer.

Richard B.S. Roden, lead researcher for the new study and an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, told Health Day news, "We have been trying to produce a single vaccine that would be able to protect patients against all cancer causing HPV types."

"What we have done is to try to develop a completely synthetic vaccine that would induce antibodies that would neutralize and protect against a whole range of these cancer-causing strains," he added.

The synthetic vaccine induces antibodies that would neutralize and protect against HPV. The vaccine can be synthesized chemically in the lab rather than having to use biological systems. The new vaccine could be given nasally and would be cheaper than the existing vaccine, Gardasil.

Gardasil, which requires three injections, offers protection against four strains of the virus that are responsible for about 70 percent of all cervical cancers.

The findings are published in the April 15-18 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.