HSV Vectors for Gene Therapy

Abstract

A number of aspects of the natural biology of herpes simplex virus (HSV) make it an attractive candidate for a vector to express foreign genes within the nervous system. Some of the advantages of an HSV vector are 1 Establishment of a life-long latent infection within peripheral and central nervous system neurons (for a review, see ref,1); 2 Latent HSV genomes exist as multiple episomal copies/neuron and integration is not known to occur (2), and 3. Nonreplicating HSV recombinants can establish a latent infection efficiently (3).