BACKGROUND Efforts are currently underway to develop therapeutic vaccines for Herpes Simplex Virus type 2 (HSV-2). METHODS We use a mathematical model to predict the potential public health impact of imperfect, therapeutic HSV-2 vaccines. We evaluate vaccine effectiveness and efficiency for the general population in the United States where HSV-2 prevalence is currently 22%. We assume that the...

B7-H1 is a co-inhibitory molecule belonging to the B7 family. The B7-H1 protein is only expressed on macrophage lineage of cells in normal tissues, but is overexpressed in most types of tumor. The aberrant expression of cell surface B7-H1 on cancer cells is generally associated with high-risk prognostic factors. The tumor-associated B7-H1 increases apoptosis of antigen-specific T cells through ...

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the primary cause of infectious mononucleosis (IM) and is associated with epithelial cell malignancies such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma and gastric carcinoma, as well as lymphoid malignancies including Hodgkin lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. EBV vaccines to prevent primary infection or disease, or the...

THERAVECTYS, a spin off the Pasteur Institute, develops a new generation of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines using optimized lentiviral vectors. It’s most advanced product, a therapeutic anti-HIV vaccine treatment, has entered clinical Phase I/II end of 2012. This vaccination should allow seropositive patients to gain an immunological status identical to the so-called “Functional Cured” pa...

Purpose: Phase I clinical trials are generally conducted to identify themaximum tolerated dose (MTD) or the biologically active dose (BAD) using a traditional dose-escalation design. This designmaynot be applied to cancer vaccines, given their unique mechanism of action. The FDA recently published "Guidance for Industry: Clinical Considerations for Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines." However, many qu...

Virion host shutoff (vhs)-deficient herpes simplex virus (HSV) was tested as a therapeutic vaccine in a mouse model of UV light-induced recurrent herpetic stromal keratitis. Four weeks after primary corneal infection, mice were vaccinated intraperitoneally with vhs(-) vaccine or control. Four weeks after vaccination, the eyes of latently infected mice were UV-B irradiated to induce recurrent vi...

Recombinant vectors can be used to deliver antigens and to stimulate immune responses in humans. Viral vectors possess various intrinsic properties which may lend to advantages and disadvantages for usage for a given therapeutic application [reviewed by Larocca and Schlom] [1]. The safety and flexibility of recombinant viral vectors have lead to their usage in gene therapy, virotherapy, and vac...

Clearance of infections caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) correlates with HCV-specific T cell function. We therefore evaluated therapeutic vaccination in 12 patients with chronic HCV infection. Eight patients also underwent a subsequent standard-of-care (SOC) therapy with pegylated interferon (IFN) and ribavirin. The phase I/IIa clinical trial was performed in treatment naive HCV genotype 1...

Idiotype protein (Id) secreted by myeloma cells is the best-characterized tumor-specific antigen and is widely used in clinical trials of immunotherapy in B-cell tumors. In this study, we used a myeloma murine model to compare the efficacy of two commonly used vaccines in human trials, Id-keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) protein versus Id-KLH-pulsed DC vaccines in preventing or treating myeloma ...

background and aims: sea buckthorn (hippophae rhamnoides l.) is a deciduous plant and has highly variable type and size, from small shrubs to medium-sized trees, traditionally growing in tibet and currently all over the world especially in europe and asia. this study aimed to overview some of therapeutic and non-therapeutic properties of sbt and its potential benefits and side effects in order ...