B7 costimulation molecules encoded by replication-defective, vhs-deficient HSV-1 improve vaccine-induced protection against corneal disease.

ABSTRACT: Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) causes herpes stromal keratitis (HSK), a sight-threatening disease of the cornea for which no vaccine exists. A replication-defective, HSV-1 prototype vaccine bearing deletions in the genes encoding ICP8 and the virion host shutoff (vhs) protein reduces HSV-1 replication and disease in a mouse model of HSK. Here we demonstrate that combining deletion of ICP8 and vhs with virus-based expression of B7 costimulation molecules created a vaccine strain that enhanced T cell responses to HSV-1 compared with the ICP8?vhs? parental strain, and reduced the incidence of keratitis and acute infection of the nervous system after corneal challenge. Post-challenge T cell infiltration of the trigeminal ganglia and antigen-specific recall responses in local lymph nodes correlated with protection. Thus, B7 costimulation molecules expressed from the genome of a replication-defective, ICP8?vhs? virus enhance vaccine efficacy by further reducing HSK.

SUBMITTER: Schrimpf JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3149624 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature