Comparison of vaccine strategies against congenital CMV infection in the guinea pig model. |
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Authors: | Mark R Schleiss |
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Institution: | Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Translational Research, University of Minnesota Medical School, 2001 6th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. schleiss@umn.edu |
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Abstract: | Vaccines are urgently needed to protect newborns against the devastating sequelae of congenital cytomegalovirus infection. Evaluation of candidate vaccines in the guinea pig model of congenital infection can shed light on potentially useful strategies for humans, since guinea pig CMV (GPCMV) is transmitted to the fetus transplacentally, causing infection and disease in utero. A number of vaccine strategies have been evaluated in this model, including DNA vaccines, live attenuated vaccines, and recombinant glycoprotein vaccines. Induction of virus-neutralizing antibody appears to play a key role in protection of the fetus. Recently, a vectored vaccine based on the GPCMV homolog of the UL83 (pp65) protein has also been shown to be effective when used as a preconceptual vaccine in this model, suggesting that strategies designed to elicit T-cell responses may be of value in protection of the fetus. |
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