The burden of HSV-2 infection is greatest among African-Americans

with 59% infected by the ages of 40–49, indicating an important health disparity. The challenges INCB024360 concentration facing development of next-generation herpes vaccines that were identified and the recommendations proposed to address these were as follows: 1. The participants identified difficulties in comparison of the results of vaccine studies and immunologic assays between different investigators due to a lack of standardized reagents and assays, including an HSV antibody neutralization assay. Efforts should be made to develop standardized reagents for preclinical vaccine development including challenge virus stocks, immunogens, adjuvants, and sera with known HSV neutralizing activity. These reagents should be made broadly available to the research community. NIAID’s Resources for Researchers program offers a variety of resources that can be explored for this purpose (http://www.niaid.nih.gov/labsandresources/resources/Pages/default.aspx). Finally, the meeting chairs, Lawrence Corey and David Knipe, summarized that the workshop highlighted both the need and the potential for developing a safe and effective HSV vaccine. HSV offers a unique opportunity to study the host–viral interactions

of a persistent viral infection in humans. Novel interactions of HSV-2 with the host have been demonstrated in both human and animal models and offer windows into new insights into the pathogenesis of

this virus and host immune responses. Translating these observations into effective HKI-272 chemical structure HSV vaccines is the challenge. The most rapid path to the optimal prophylactic and therapeutic herpes vaccines will require intensified efforts in both animal models and human studies to understand the mechanisms of immunization and identify the optimal immunogen(s), the types of immune responses induced, and the correlates of protective immunity. Increased academic, industrial, and government collaboration and partnerships are needed. Industry has highlighted the importance of “de risking” their investment, as for correlates of protection for either a prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine are as yet undefined. Evaluation of novel prophylactic vaccines has potential to help stem the high acquisition rate of HSV-2 in adolescent populations in sub-Saharan Africa that poses a growing health concern. Existing clinical trials networks may offer the infrastructure to facilitate evaluation of novel vaccines. The academic community can provide the scientific leadership for such efforts. Conversely, the academic sector needs the expertise of industry to develop and manufacture novel immunogens for clinical trials. This “Global Alliance” is needed to accelerate the development of herpes vaccines.