Preclinical evaluation of a vaccine against herpes viruses

Oral and genital herpes are caused by the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), which both cause lifelong infection. HSV-2 infection is associated with increased risk for HIV infection. HSV2-infected women pose a risk of transmitting this dangerous infection to newborn babies; therefore, avoiding herpes infection during pregnancy is very important. In this issue of JCI Insight, researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine report a promising vaccine strategy for immunizing against both HSV-1 and HSV-2 infections. Led by Betsy Herold and William Jacobs Jr., the researchers expanded upon previous work from their group indicating that a vaccine made from an engineered HSV-2 virus that lacks expression of glycoprotein D could protect against infection with a single strain of HSV-2 in mice. The current report shows that vaccination protects mice from multiple clinical isolates of HSV-1 and HSV-2 infection. Mice rapidly cleared virus after infection and did not develop long-term latent infections. These studies provide exciting preclinical support for a new vaccine strategy to prevent infection by herpes viruses.

###

TITLE: HSV-2 ΔgD elicits FcγR-effector antibodies that protect against clinical isolates

AUTHOR CONTACT: Betsy Herold
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Email: betsy.herold@einstein.yu.edu

Or

William R. Jacobs Jr.,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator,
Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Email:jacobsw@hhmi.org.

View this article at: http://insight.jci.org/articles/view/88529?key=68821b84d248fb915f19

JCI Insight is the newest publication from the American Society of Clinical Investigation, a nonprofit honor organization of physician-scientists. JCI Insight is dedicated to publishing a range of translational biomedical research with an emphasis on rigorous experimental methods and data reporting. All articles published in JCI Insight are freely available at the time of publication. For more information about JCI Insight and all of the latest articles go to http://www.insight.jci.org.