Antiherpetic vaccines are administered to either act as a prophylactic or therapeutic against herpes simplex infection. Several kinds of vaccines have been evaluated but with little result, such as live-attenuated viral vaccines and subunit glycoprotein vaccines. The new disabled infectious single cycle (DISC) vaccines are designed to combine the safety and advantages of inactivated vaccines with the immunogenic activity of live viral vaccines. The gene for glycoprotein H was removed to disable the virus that can infect human cells much the same as native virus and viral progeny are produced but are defective and can no longer replicate. These viral particles are nonpathogenic and are capable of inducing broad cytotoxic T-cell and humoral response against herpetic antigens.
herpes simplex; glycoprotein; vaccines; viral vaccines; gene therapy
