title: Evidence for differences in immunologic and pathogenesis properties of herpes simplex virus 2 strains from the United States and South Africa.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Genital infection with herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) is linked to an increased risk of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, an effective genital herpes vaccine would be an important weapon in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
  
  
  METHODS
  To test whether a current vaccine candidate can protect against HSV-2 from Sub-Saharan Africa, we examined the ability of an HSV-2 vaccine strain, dl5-29, and other HSV-2 replication-defective mutant strains to protect against genital challenge with US or South African strains in a murine model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Immunization with dl5-29 reduces infection by both viruses but is significantly more efficacious against the US virus than against the African virus. Furthermore, another US vaccine strain was more efficacious against US than against African viruses, and the converse was observed for the parallel African vaccine strain. Nevertheless, protection against the African viruses was significantly less with all vaccines used in this study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that there may be differences in protective epitopes and pathogenesis between the US and African strains that raise the need for increased doses of the existing vaccine candidate or an HSV-2 vaccine strain based on viruses from that region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Dudek
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Torres-Lopez
authors.forename: Clyde
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Crumpacker
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Knipe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006558:Herpes Genitalis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology*; D018258:Herpesvirus 2, Human / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014709:Vero Cells; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines