DISCLOSED IS A VACCINE ANTIGEN CAPABLE OF INDUCING A CROSS-REACTING AND NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODY DIRECTED AGAINST A HIGH-RISK-TYPE HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS. SPECIFICALLY DISCLOSED ARE: A CHIMERIC PROTEIN COMPRISING AN L2-EPITOPE OF A HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS (HPV) TYPE-16 INSERTED IN A LOOP REGION OF A HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS TYPE 16 L1 PROTEIN AND A PARTICLE FORMED BY THE CHIMERIC PROTEIN. THE LOOP REGION TO WHICH THE L2-EPITOPE IS TO BE INSERTED IS LOCATED BETWEEN AN AMINO ACID RESIDUE AT POSITION-430 AND AN AMINO ACID RESIDUE AT POSITION 433. THE L2-EPITOPE HAS AN AMINO ACID SEQUENCE REPRESENTED BY ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING FORMULAE: LYKTCKQAGTCPPDIIPKVEG (18-38 L2-EPITOPE) GGLGIGTGSGTGGRTGYIPL (56-75 L2-EPITOPE) AND DPVGPLDPSIVSLVEESSFI (96-115 L2-EPITOPE).
