The hepatitis B vaccine was the first successful vaccine to prevent a human viral cancer through its original clinical use.
Chronic hepatitis B infection can cause cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common primary liver cancer. By preventing infection with hepatitis B virus, vaccination can therefore prevent a substantial proportion of virus-associated liver cancers.
The first hepatitis B vaccines were developed from purified viral surface antigen obtained from infected human plasma. A recombinant DNA vaccine followed in the 1980s, allowing hepatitis B surface antigen to be produced in genetically engineered yeast. That technology made large-scale production without human blood products possible.
The HPV vaccine is often named in similar discussions because it prevents infections that can cause cervical and several other cancers. HPV vaccination came later; hepatitis B vaccination was the earlier cancer-prevention breakthrough.