CAN RECOMBINANT-DNA TECHNOLOGY PROVIDE USEFUL VACCINES AGAINST VIRUSES WHICH INDUCE HEART-DISEASE

In the panoply of armaments against viral infections, both drugs and v accines have been employed Numerous vaccines have enjoyed spectacular success in either eradicating or controlling various viral diseases, w hereas there are still few, effective anti-viral drugs. Coxsackie B vi ruses are agents of human inflammatory heart disease and may trigger e vents leading to a failing heart. We believe that enteroviral heart di sease could be controlled or eradicated through the use of vaccines in much the same manner as poliovirus-induced poliomyelitis has been con trolled through vaccination. We present here preliminary data which de al with an approach to the development of enterovirus vaccines and the use of a chimeric coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) vaccine in a murine model of CVB3-induced inflammatory heart disease.