BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Prime and pull against HSV-2

November 1, 2012 7:00 AM UTC

Yale School of Medicine researchers have mouse data showing that vaginal application of two chemokines recruits memory T cells into vaginal tissue and improves the protective effect of an HSV-2 vaccine.1 The team is now working to prolong the duration of the chemokines' effects and wants to extend the strategy to HIV prophylaxis.

Memory T cells circulate freely throughout many organs of the body but cannot enter vaginal mucosae-and certain other tissues such as skin and lung airways-until recruited by chemokines in response to inflammation or infection. This mechanism restricts the ability of memory T cells induced by vaccines to reach and protect vaginal tissues prior to viral infection, thus blunting efficacy...