A chemical method for generating live-attenuated, replication-defective DNA viruses for vaccine development

Immunological Considerations for the Development of an Effective Herpes Vaccine

Research is underway to develop a vaccine to prevent and cure infection from herpes simplex virus (HSV). It emphasizes the critical need for immunization to address public health issues and the shortcomings of existing treatment options. Furthermore, studies on the HSV vaccine advance the field of immunology and vaccine creation, which may help in the battle against other viral illnesses. The current lack of such a vaccine is, in part, due to herpes viral latency in sensory ganglions. Current vaccines rely on tissue-resident memory CD8+ T cells, which are known to provide protection against subsequent HSV reinfection and reactivation without correlating with other immune subsets. For that reason, there is no effective vaccine that can provide protection against latent or recurrent herpes infection. This review focuses on conventional methods for evaluating the efficacy of a herpes vaccine using differential CD8+ T cells and important unaccounted immune aspects for designing an effective vaccine against herpes.

Outlining recent updates on influenza therapeutics and vaccines: A comprehensive review

Influenza virus has presented a considerable healthcare challenge during the past years, particularly in vulnerable groups with compromised immune systems. Therapeutics and vaccination have always been in research annals since the spread of influenza. Efforts have been going on to develop an antiviral therapeutic approach that could assist in better disease management and reduce the overall disease complexity, resistance development, and fatality rates. On the other hand, vaccination presents a chance for effective, long-term, cost-benefit, and preventive response against the morbidity and mortality associated with the influenza. However, the issues of resistance development, strain mutation, antigenic variability, and inability to cure wide-spectrum and large-scale strains of the virus by available vaccines remain there. The article gathers the updated data for the therapeutics and available influenza vaccines, their mechanism of action, shortcomings, and trials under clinical experimentation. A methodological approach has been adopted to identify the prospective therapeutics and available vaccines approved and within the clinical trials against the influenza virus. Review contains influenza therapeutics, including traditional and novel antiviral drugs and inhibitor therapies against influenza virus as well as research trials based on newer drug combinations and latest technologies such as nanotechnology and organic and plant-based natural products. Most recent development of influenza vaccine has been discussed including some updates on traditional vaccination protocols and discussion on next-generation and upgraded novel technologies. This review will help the readers to understand the righteous approach for dealing with influenza virus infection and for deducing futuristic approaches for novel therapeutic and vaccine trials against Influenza.

Exploring the Potential of Cytomegalovirus-Based Vectors: A Review

Viral vectors have emerged as powerful tools for delivering and expressing foreign genes, playing a pivotal role in gene therapy. Among these vectors, cytomegalovirus (CMV) stands out as a promising viral vector due to its distinctive attributes including large packaging capacity, ability to achieve superinfection, broad host range, capacity to induce CD8+ T cell responses, lack of integration into the host genome, and other qualities that make it an appealing vector candidate. Engineered attenuated CMV strains such as Towne and AD169 that have a ~15 kb genomic DNA deletion caused by virus passage guarantee human safety. CMV's large genome enables the efficient incorporation of substantial foreign genes as demonstrated by CMV vector-based therapies for SIV, tuberculosis, cancer, malaria, aging, COVID-19, and more. CMV is capable of reinfecting hosts regardless of prior infection or immunity, making it highly suitable for multiple vector administrations. In addition to its broad cellular tropism and sustained high-level gene expression, CMV triggers robust, virus-specific CD8+ T cell responses, offering a significant advantage as a vaccine vector. To date, successful development and testing of murine CMV (MCMV) and rhesus CMV (RhCMV) vectors in animal models have demonstrated the efficacy of CMV-based vectors. These investigations have explored the potential of CMV vectors for vaccines against HIV, cancer, tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious pathogens, as well as for other gene therapy applications. Moreover, the generation of single-cycle replication CMV vectors, produced by deleting essential genes, ensures robust safety in an immunocompromised population. The results of these studies emphasize CMV's effectiveness as a gene delivery vehicle and shed light on the future applications of a CMV vector. While challenges such as production complexities and storage limitations need to be addressed, ongoing efforts to bridge the gap between animal models and human translation continue to fuel the optimism surrounding CMV-based vectors. This review will outline the properties of CMV vectors and discuss their future applications as well as possible limitations.

Human cytomegalovirus in cancer: the mechanism of HCMV-induced carcinogenesis and its therapeutic potential

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a well-studied herpesvirus, has been implicated in malignancies derived from breast, colorectal muscle, brain, and other cancers. Intricate host-virus interactions are responsible for the cascade of events that have the potential to result in the transformed phenotype of normal cells. The HCMV genome contains oncogenes that may initiate these types of cancers, and although the primary HCMV infection is usually asymptomatic, the virus remains in the body in a latent or persistent form. Viral reactivation causes severe health issues in immune-compromised individuals, including cancer patients, organ transplants, and AIDS patients. This review focuses on the immunologic mechanisms and molecular mechanisms of HCMV-induced carcinogenesis, methods of HCMV treatment, and other studies. Studies show that HCMV DNA and virus-specific antibodies are present in many types of cancers, implicating HCMV as an important player in cancer progression. Importantly, many clinical trials have been initiated to exploit HCMV as a therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer, particularly in immunotherapy strategies in the treatment of breast cancer and glioblastoma patients. Taken together, these findings support a link between HCMV infections and cellular growth that develops into cancer. More importantly, HCMV is the leading cause of birth defects in newborns, and infection with HCMV is responsible for abortions in pregnant women.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection: Treatments and Clinical Management

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major healthcare concern, especially for immune-compromised individuals and infants below 5 years of age. Worldwide, it is known to be associated with incidences of morbidity and mortality in infants. Despite the seriousness of the issue and continuous rigorous scientific efforts, no approved vaccine or available drug is fully effective against RSV. The purpose of this review article is to provide insights into the past and ongoing efforts for securing effective vaccines and therapeutics against RSV. The readers will be able to confer the mechanism of existing therapies and the loopholes that need to be overcome for future therapeutic development against RSV. A methodological approach was applied to collect the latest data and updated results regarding therapeutics and vaccine development against RSV. We outline the latest throughput vaccination technologies and prophylactic development efforts linked with RSV. A range of vaccination approaches with the already available vaccine (with limited use) and those undergoing trials are included. Moreover, important drug regimens used alone or in conjugation with adjuvants or vaccines are also briefly discussed. After reading this article, the audience will be able to understand the current standing of clinical management in the form of the vaccine, prophylactic, and therapeutic candidates against RSV. An understanding of the biological behavior acting as a reason behind the lack of effective therapeutics against RSV will also be developed. The literature indicates a need to overcome the limitations attached to RSV clinical management, drugs, and vaccine development that could be explained by dealing with the challenges of current study designs with continuous improvement and further work and approval on novel therapeutic applications.

Insights into the Novel Therapeutics and Vaccines against Herpes Simplex Virus

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a great concern of the global health community due to its linked infection of inconspicuous nature and resultant serious medical consequences. Seropositive patients may develop ocular disease or genital herpes as characteristic infectious outcomes. Moreover, the infectious nature of HSV is so complex that the available therapeutic options have been modified in certain ways to cure it. However, no permanent and highly effective cure has been discovered. This review generates insights into the available prophylactic and therapeutic interventions against HSV. A methodological research approach is used for study design and data complication. Only the latest data from publications are acquired to shed light on updated therapeutic approaches. These studies indicate that the current antiviral therapeutics can suppress the symptoms and control viral transmission up to a certain level, but cannot eradicate the natural HSV infection and latency outcomes. Most trials that have entered the clinical phase are made part of this review to understand what is new within the field. Some vaccination approaches are also discussed. Moreover, some novel therapeutic options that are currently in research annals are given due consideration for future development. The data can enable the scientific community to direct their efforts to fill the gaps that remain unfilled in terms of therapies for HSV. The need is to integrate scientific efforts to produce a proper cure against HSV to control the virus spread, resistance, and mutation in future disease management.