Fc. Spector et al., EVALUATION OF A LIVE ATTENUATED RECOMBINANT VIRUS RAV-9395 AS A HERPES-SIMPLEX VIRUS TYPE-2 VACCINE IN GUINEA-PIGS, The Journal of infectious diseases, 177(5), 1998, pp. 1143-1154
Recombinant virus RAV 9395 was constructed by deleting both copies of
the gamma(1)34.5 gene, and the UL55 and UL56 open reading frames from
herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) strain G. The potential use of RAV
9395 as an HSV-2 vaccine was investigated by evaluating the ability o
f RAV 9395 to protect guinea pigs from severe disease by HSV-2(G) chal
lenge. RAV 9395 administered intramuscularly reduced both lesion devel
opment and severity in a dose dependent manner in guinea pigs challeng
ed with HSV-Z(G). The frequency of reactivation of RAV 9395 from expla
nted dorsal root ganglia was low compared with that of HSV-2(G). Immun
ization with RAV 9395 at doses of 1 x 10(5) pfu and above generally pr
ecluded the establishment of latency by the challenge virus. The resul
ts presented in this report lend support for the development of geneti
cally engineered live HSV vaccines.