Clinical efficacy of a herpes simplex subunit vaccine

✍ Scribed by R. Cappel; S. Sprecher; F. De Cuyper; J. De Braekeleer

• Book ID: 102907869
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 514 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.1890160206

✦ Synopsis

A DNA-free herpes simplex type 2 subunit vaccine was administered to 18 volunteers without past evidence of herpes simplex type 1 (HSV 1) or herpes simplex type 2 (HSV 2) infection, to 44 patients with severe recurrent genital HSV 2 infection, and to 15 patients with severe oral type 1 HSV recurrences. The vaccine elicited both humoral and cell-mediated immunity in 97 % of the subjects without past HSV infections and boosted significantly the cell-mediated immunity and antibody titers in almost all the patients with recurrent HSV 1 or HSV 2. The vaccine elicited particularly the production of complement-dependent cytotoxic antibodies in 96% of the patients with recurrent HSV 2 infections. This might, at least partly, explain the clinical efficacy of the vaccine. Indeed, we observed a significant decrease (t test, p < 0.01) in the attack rate of the recurrences and also a significant shortening of the time needed to complete healing of the lesions (t test, p < 0.01).