Research supporting use of HSV animal model published.(Brief Article)

2002 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Northeastern Ohio Universities College Of Medicine (NEOUCOM) and Cel-Sci Corp. (CVM) announced the publication of research conducted to show the utility of the mouse herpes simplex virus (HSV) dermal scarification model as an in vivo system in which to evaluate potential therapies and vaccines intended to treat or prevent HSV infection.

The disease characteristics and neuronal spread of HSV infection in this model closely resemble those observed in humans. The article authored by Dr. Neena Goel and other scientists from the laboratory of Dr. Kenneth S. Rosenthal and from Cel-Sci was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Archives of Virology, and is entitled "The ability of an HSV strain to initiate zosteriform spread correlates with its neuroinvasive disease potential" (Arch Virol 2002;147:763-773). They demonstrated that the ability of zosteriform lesions to spread and subsequently, to progress to a lethal infection, directly correlated with the neuroinvasive potential of the virus used to challenge the mice.

Rosenthal stated, "These results support the use of this in vivo animal model to evaluate the level of protection against HSV infection afforded by a vaccine, immunotherapeutic agent or antiviral drug, whether the treatment prevents initial local disease, virus spread, or serious consequences of infection, such as death."

Scientists from Dr. Rosenthal's lab ...