Intratypic variations in neutralizable epitopes among herpes simplex virus type 2 isolates

HIV-1 replication in HIV-infected individuals is significantly reduced when peripheral blood mononuclear cells are superinfected with HSV-1

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) can cause generalized infection in human immunodeficiency virus- (HIV-) infected patients leading to death. This study investigated HSV-1 replication in PBMCs from 25 HIV-infected individuals and 15 healthy donors and the effects of HSV-1 superinfection on HIV-1 production. Herpes viral entry mediator (HVEM) receptor on T lymphocytes was also evaluated. Our results confirmed that the number of activated (CD3+ and CD38+) T lymphocytes in HIV-infected individuals (46.51 ± 17.54%) was significantly higher than in healthy donors (27.54 ± 14.12%, P value = 0.001) without any significant differences in HVEM expression. Even though the percentages of HSV-1 infected T lymphocytes between HIV-infected individuals (79.25 ± 14.63%) and healthy donors (80.76 ± 7.13%) were not different (P value = 0.922), yet HSV-1 production in HIV-infected individuals (47.34 ± 11.14 × 10³ PFU/ml) was significantly greater than that of healthy donors (34.17 ± 8.48 × 10³ PFU/ml, P value = 0.001). Moreover, HSV-1 virions were released extracellularly rather than being associated with the cells, and superinfection of HSV-1 at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 5 significantly decreased HIV production (P value < 0.001).

Recent progress in herpes simplex virus immunobiology and vaccine research

Herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) cause prevalent, chronic infections that have serious outcomes in some individuals. Neonatal herpes may occur when the infant traverses the cervix during maternal genital herpes. Genital herpes is a major risk factor for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 transmission. Considerable efforts have been made to design and test vaccines for HSV, focusing on genital infection with HSV-2. Several protein subunit vaccines based on HSV-2 envelope glycoproteins have reached advanced-phase clinical trials. These antigens were chosen because they are the targets of neutralizing-antibody responses and because they elicit cellular immunity. Encouraging results have been reported in studies of treatment of HSV-seronegative women with a vaccine consisting of truncated glycoprotein D of HSV-2 and a novel adjuvant. Because most sexual HSV transmission occurs during asymptomatic shedding, it is important to evaluate the impact of vaccination on HSV-2 infection, clinically apparent genital herpes, and HSV shedding among vaccine recipients who acquire infection. There are several other attractive formats, including subunit vaccines that target cellular immune responses, live attenuated virus strains, and mutant strains that undergo incomplete lytic replication. HSV vaccines have also been evaluated for the immunotherapy of established HSV infection.