Herpes Vaccine Candidate Exhibits Protection Against HSV-2 in Pre-Clinical Study

Massachusetts-based Rational Vaccines today announced findings from a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded pilot study of RVX201, a therapeutic vaccine candidate for herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2).

Results from this pre-clinical (pig) study showed treatment with RVX201 led to a reduction in recurrent genital lesions compared to gD2-alum/MPL vaccine or placebo in vivo.

In addition, RVX201 appears to generate a robust cellular immune response equivalent to that elicited by wild-type HSV-2 on Day 7 post-infection.

This study's results also showed that in comparison to no vaccine, animals that received RVX201 had the number of symptomatic days reduced by 45%, while those that received the gD2-alum/MPL vaccine only had a 24% reduction in symptomatic days.

Konstantin G. Kousoulas, Ph.D., professor of virology and biotechnology, Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, and VP of scientific affairs at Rational Vaccines, stated in a related press release issued on July 8, 2022, "This therapeutic study shows that RVX201 confers significant protection from HSV-2 reactivation in latently infected animals."

"Specifically, results indicate a significant reduction in viral titers and lesion scores in genital tissues of immunized guinea pigs compared to animals vaccinated with purified glycoprotein D (gD) with adjuvant."

"Additional prophylactic studies in mice have shown drastic protection against lethal HSV-2 genital challenge."

"Overall, these results and available human studies indicate that RVX201 can be an effective prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine approach against HSV-2/HSV-1 infections."

This is important news since there is no cure for herpes, and as of July 8, 2022, nor has the U.S. FDA approved vaccines or immunotherapies.

The herpes simplex virus is categorized into two types: herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2; both infections are lifelong.

HSV-1 is the primary cause of oral herpes but can also cause genital herpes.

While most herpes infections are asymptomatic, many people experience various symptoms that vary in frequency and severity.

Both viruses are most contagious during a symptomatic outbreak but can still be transmitted without symptoms.

The most common symptoms for both types of herpes are painful blisters or ulcers.

In addition, many patients experience debilitating neuralgia, skin splits, fissures, minor abrasions, erythema, fever, chills, and myalgias.

According to a 2020 report, about half a billion people worldwide live with genital herpes, and several billion have oral herpes infections.

Herpes vaccine candidate development news is posted at PrecisionVaccinations.com/Herpes.

Note: The company's announcement was manually curated for mobile readership.