Objective Attenuated strains of Shigella are attractive live vaccine candidates for eliciting mucosal immune responses which is a suitable carrier for the prophylactic human papillomaviruses (HPV) vaccine development, To examine the potential of a live Shigella based prophylactic HPV vaccine, HPV16L1should be expressed in attenuated shigella strain. Methods A Shigella large invasive plasmid (icsA/virG) based prokaryotic expression plasmid pHS3199 was constructed. HPV16L1 gene was inserted into plasmid pHS3199 to form pHS3199-HPV16 L1 construct, and pHS3199-hpv16L1 was electroporated into a live attenuated shigella strain sh42. The expression of HPV16L1 protein was demonstrated by Western blotting with monoclonal antibody to HPV16L1, The genetic stability of recombinant strain sh42-HPV16 L1 was monitored by consecutive passage culture. Invasive ability of sh42-HPV16L1 was evaluated by Hela cell infection assay. Results HPV16 L1 protein can be expressed in recombinant strain sh42-HPV16 L1, and the protein stably expressed over 140 generations. The invasive ability of sh42-HPV16L1 was diminished dramatically compared to its parent strain, but not abolished completely. Conclusion HPV16L1 protein was constitutively expressed in the attenuated strain of shigella flexneri sh42, and maintained partial invasive ability. Our strategy may represent a promising vaccine candidate against genital HPV16 infection.