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Commercial partner
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University spin-out company
Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) infections are ubiquitous in the worldwide population. Roughly 65% of the United States population is infected with HSV-1 before reaching 50 years of age. In addition to causing many genital ulcerative diseases, HSV-1 remains a prevalent cause of eye infections afflicting 450,000 persons in the United States. HSV-mediated ocular diseases include blepharitis, conjunctivitis, and stromal keratitis. Periodic re-activation in infected persons can cause recurrent disease of the cornea. For some, the re-activation leads to corneal scaring and loss of vision. Herpetic stromal keratitis is the second most common cause of non-traumatic corneal blindness. HSV-2 infections typically are sexually transmitted, but also may be transmitted to babies born to HSV-infected women who undergo peripartum primary infection or reactivation. In newborns, the infection often widely disseminates, causing sometimes fatal disease and leaving survivors with long-term sequelae. Development of an effective vaccine against HSV-1 and HSV-2 would help control or prevent these diseases.
Saint Louis University researchers have developed an antiviral vaccine that encodes costimulation molecules for increasing immune response to the Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2). In vivo studies in mice indicate that increased responsiveness to HSV could be attributed to virus-encoded B7 molecules. To test and demonstrate the concept that B7-1 or B7-2 expression by replication-defective HSV could augment its immunogenicity and protective capacity, SLU researchers constructed replication-defective HSV-2 encoding B7-1 or B7-2. Both viruses partially reconstituted immune responses to HSV compared with replication-defective virus alone when used to immunize B7KO mice, indicating that the increased responsiveness to virus could be attributed to virus-encoded B7 molecules.
The potential benefits of this technology include:
Increasing immune response to HSV
Minimizing the number of HSV-1 and HSV-2 infections
Minimizing the number of HSV-mediated ocular diseases
This technology has potential applications for developing human vaccines for a several viruses including:
Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) and other herpes viruses
Caudovirales
Mononegavirales
Nidovirales
Picornavirales
Saint Louis University is seeking a partner to further develop and commercialize this technology.