Vaccines for herpes simplex virus infections

Abstract

Infections with herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) can have serious medical consequences. Although antiviral medications can suppress symptomatic disease, asymptomatic shedding and transmission, they neither cure nor alter the natural history of HSV infections. Manipulation of the immune response is one potential method to decrease disease burden. Current research on prophylactic and therapeutic vaccination approaches is discussed in this review, with a focus on compounds that have entered clinical trials or that display novel compositions or proposed mechanisms of action. One such vaccine is an alum and monophosphoryl lipid A-adjuvanted subunit glycoprotein D2 vaccine that has demonstrated activity in the prevention of HSV-2 infection and disease in HSV-uninfected women in a phase III clinical trial. Further confirmatory clinical trials of this vaccine are currently underway. Other vaccine formats also in development include attenuated live or replication-incompetent HSV-2 strains and technologies that target virus-specific CD8 T-cell responses.