INDUCTION AND ENHANCEMENT OF IMMUNE-RESPONSES TO HERPES-SIMPLEX VIRUSTYPE-2 IN HUMANS BY USE OF A RECOMBINATN GLYCOPROTEIN-D VACCINE

A vaccine for a chronic or recurrent viral infection should induce imm une responses that protect against primary disease or that augment pre existing defenses sufficiently to diminish the likelihood of disease r ecurrence or progression. Such a vaccine was sought for genital herpes , a sexually transmitted infection of epidemic proportion. Vaccine con taining recombinant herpes simplex virus type 2 glycoprotein D express ed in CHO cells was given repeatedly and safely to 24 human volunteers . In previously uninfected subjects, the vaccine induced primary antig en-specific and neutralizing antibody responses nearing or exceeding t hose seen at entry in subjects with genital herpes. Primary cellular i mmune responses were also evoked. Vaccination of previously seropositi ve subjects boosted antibody titers to levels that remained, for great er-than-or-equal-to 1 year, severalfold above those attained in recurr ent genital herpes. Either the quantity or mode of presentation of ant igen permitted this vaccine to exhibit previously unachieved immunogen icity, which may prove adequate for antiviral immunoprophylaxis or tre atment of genital herpes.