HERPES VACCINE - CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE-PROSPECTS

Recent advances in recombinant DNA technology have greatly expanded th e number of approaches to developing safe and effective vaccines, incl uding those for the herpes simplex virus (HSV). The current focus of c linical evaluation is on HSV subunit glycoprotein vaccines, although i t is uncertain if these represent the optimal immunogens for inclusion in vaccines or whether the addition of other proteins would enhance e fficacy. Similarly, the optimal adjuvants for formulation with subunit vaccines have yet to be defined. Other approaches that allow viral pr oteins to be synthesised within cells offer certain advantages and cou ld lead to the vaccines of choice, although many questions remain rega rding these strategies.